


At A Glance

by NeonNitrogen



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Dubious Consent, Fluff, Humor, Lots of side plots, M/M, Maybe some angst, Mild Sexual Content, Slice of Life, lots of over thinking, non-con elements, we will see
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-04-29 13:41:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 61,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5129714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeonNitrogen/pseuds/NeonNitrogen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The funny thing about relationships is how you think you’re the one in control. But in reality, almost none of the choices made are actually your own. Alternatively: Everyone has their own agenda. (A collection of scenes that outline Seungcheol’s and Jihoon’s relationship together)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. October 9th, 2015

**Author's Note:**

> Well. Here I am. Writing for a pairing I never thought I would dedicate an entire fic to. But me and my friends were talking one day and the ideas ran from there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT NOTICE: Before you read on, please note that this fic has been discontinued. I will not be adding anymore chapters to it, but I have added at the end all my planning that I had as to what I was going to do if I had finished. 
> 
> If you are undeterred by that, then by all means, please continue!
> 
> If not, I'm sorry that this reason now leads you to not want to venture on, but I do understand.

Seungcheol shifted nervously in his seat, trying not to show on the outside how much of a mess his insides were. He did almost everything his mind could think of doing out of nerves. He pulled down his sleeves a little, putting them back into proper position. He unfolded his napkin, flattened it on to his lap, but ultimately returned it to its original spot back on the table. He even pulled out his phone from his back pocket about every minute and a half to check on the time.

He wasn't sure why he had let Seungkwan convince him to come to this fairly nice restaurant, wearing his nice jeans and a baby blue cardigan over a white button down. He vaguely remembered when the boy busted into his apartment about a week ago, to catch him spread out on his couch, surrounded in leftover take out boxes and candy wrappers. Seungkwan then came to the conclusion of, “You need to find yourself a new boyfriend.”

It had been about half a year since Seungcheol had his heart broken by a beautiful boy named Jeonghan. Seungcheol had found himself immediately smitten by the boy’s sharp features and amazing sense of humor. Jeonghan was the kind of guy who knew that he looked good, and didn't have a problem with letting people know that he knew. But he was able to play off how he acted by being charming and smooth explained a weepy Seungcheol to his group of friends.

Soonyoung, Seokmin, and Seungkwan had gathered at Seungcheol’s place the night Jeonghan had left him for a foreigner by the name of Joshua. The boy transferred to their University at the beginning of the semester, and with his arrival, so went Jeonghan’s love for Seungcheol.

The worst part about it was that Jeonghan didn't try to hide the fact that he no longer found Seungcheol interesting. His break up speech consisted of, “But he's just so cute when he speaks English. And he can play the guitar.” It was much more of an explanation of how Jeonghan thought Joshua was better than Seungcheol.

So 6 months and 18 days after their break up, Seungcheol found himself on a blind date, set up by Seungkwan and Soonyoung. Seungkwan was the planner for the date and had scoped out the ideal restaurant and outfit for Seungcheol, while Soonyoung was the one to provide the date. Apparently there was a boy in Soonyoung’s dance club who would be, “Exactly what you need! He’s pretty much the exact opposite of He Who Doesn't Deserve To Be Acknowledged By Name.” Seungcheol had tried to explain to Soonyoung that both that code name was way too long to be a good code name and that he couldn't be a good match if the boy was the exact opposite of what he was interested in before.

“I love the gorgeous type.” Explained Seungcheol. And Soonyoung just nodded saying, “And he is! But just not in the way He Who Ruins Lives was.” Seungcheol just narrowed his eyes at that, suspicious of what Soonyoung’s definition of gorgeous was.

About an hour before the planned meet up time, Seungcheol was standing in front of his mirror, a proud looking Seungkwan standing behind him. He had outdone himself with Seungcheol’s outfit, if he would say so himself. Which he did. Seungcheol could only stare back at his reflection, and found himself blurting out, “I don't think I can do this.”

Before he could even finish his sentence, he could see Seungkwan shaking his head in the mirror. “No way are you backing out now! You have no idea how much Soonyoung complained to me about how hard it was to get the guy to even agree to go on this date!”

“But see! The other guy doesn't even want to go either!” Exclaimed Seungcheol, trying to find any excuse to get out of this situation. The glare Seungkwan sent him was all that he needed to know that he wasn't going to complain his way out of the date.

Which is where we find Seungcheol, on his very first blind date. He was told by Soonyoung that, “You'll know it's him when you see him.” Which was literally the worst thing Soonyoung could have said when Seungcheol asked how he was going to recognize his date.

He arrived 10 minutes early, thanks to Seungkwan, who was tired of watching the nervous pacing Seungcheol was doing at his apartment after he finished getting Seungcheol ready. Seungcheol checked his phone for the nth time that night, to see it read, '6:03'. 3 minutes after the designated time of the date. Seungcheol just squinted at the offending object, making up his mind that if the boy didn't show by 6:10 that he was going to leave.

_Punctuality is very important._ Thought Seungcheol, trying to convince himself that he wasn't just looking for excuses to leave and never have to face this 'Jihoon' boy.

Not long after he finished that thought, he heard someone enter the front door.

Seungcheol whipped his head in the direction, for it was the first person to enter since he did 13 minutes earlier. The place was nice, but wasn't very busy. The first thing that caught his attention was the pink pastel that was the boy's hair. The next was his height, which Seungcheol could tell was below the normal even from his sitting position.

The boy seemed to be explaining to the hostess something, but was soon done. He then started to scan the small dining area the place provided. When his eyes landed on Seungcheol, he began to make his way over. Seungcheol whipped back to his forward position, face on fire. The pink haired boy couldn't possibly be his blind date. He definitely _wasn't_ Seungcheol’s type.

But only after a few seconds, Seungcheol looked up to see the boy slide into the booth opposite of him. While the boy was still getting situated he started to explain, “Sorry that I'm late. The bus schedule was running late. I had planned on being early but I guess that didn't happen...” Trailed off the boy.

Seungcheol just stared at the boy across from him, in a state of shock. This was far from what he initially thought was going to happen when his blind date showed up. He expected awkward introductions and uncomfortable atmosphere. Not a boy who seemed like he was meeting up with a long time friend.

His newly acquired companion was just starting to take off his jacket when Seungcheol finally find his voice. “Um.. Are you Jihoon?” Asked a confused Seungcheol.

When 'Jihoon' had finally gotten his jacket off, he laid it onto the booth seat next to him. He then looked up and made eye contact for the first time since he arrived. The only thought Seungcheol had was, Well, I guess Soonyoung wasn't lying when he said he was gorgeous.

Seungcheol was immediately entranced by his date. His face seemed quite young, but not innocent. He had a boyish charm to how he held himself, but definitely gave off the presences of someone who knew exactly what he wanted from life. The next thing he noticed was his hands. They were beautiful. Seungcheol wasn't really the type to find a single body part on someone beautiful, but he could easily see himself getting attached to the boy's hands.

“Yes I am. And I'm assuming you are Seungcheol?” Asked Jihoon in return. The boy seemed quite comfortable in his seat across from Seungcheol for someone who was just now making sure the boy at his table was indeed the Seungcheol he was suppose to meet up with.

“Yeah.... How did you know?” Seungcheol wouldn't have ever been able to pick Jihoon out if he hadn't been the one to find Seungcheol first.

Jihoon gave Seungcheol a quick once over, which had made him nervous under the heavy gaze. “Your friend Soonyoung is very good at describing you.”

Seungcheol sent a quick curse at his friend under his breath, for how could Soonyoung have given him such a vague explanation but give Jihoon a full description?? 

Seungcheol was quick to get rid of his thoughts of Soonyoung though, for he seemed to have a very interesting person in front of him.

“...I see.” Seungcheol wasn't really sure what to do now. He had anticipated that it was going to be an awkward date, but he hadn't taken the time to think of any topics to talk about. Luckily he was saved from the silence by their waiter coming to take their drink order.

Both ordered simple waters before the waiter turned away. Seungcheol then started talking again, not wanting to fall into silence again. “So, Soonyoung said he knows you from his dance club.”

Jihoon eyed him at that, waiting for a question to actually be asked.

“Uh, so you dance?” This was a lot harder then Seungcheol originally thought.

Jihoon nodded at that, but then started to explain more into it, if only to keep up conversation. “I do, but it's really only just a hobby to keep in shape.” Seungcheol hummed in understanding. It'd been awhile since he did anything that could resemble a work out, but that was a different story.

Seungcheol could tell he wasn't going to get much more after that, so he asked another question. “So how did you and Soonyoung become friends?”

Jihoon’s expression fell a little bit at that. “Yeah, it was definitely more of a 'I was minding my own business but then Soonyoung decided to make my business his business' then forming a friendship.” Explained Jihoon. Seungcheol also nodded at that, knowing full well what he meant by it.

But quickly they relapsed into silence. Their waiter returned to drop off their drinks and asked if they were ready to order. Seungcheol quickly grabbed at his menu, completely forgetting that he was suppose to order food. Jihoon also grabbed for his, but with much less urgency. The waiter left them again to give them time to decide.

Seungcheol was quick to decide, but Jihoon seemed to be overlooking all his options before choosing. While Jihoon was still looking, Seungcheol tried to strike up conversation again. “So have you been here before?”

“No, it's a little farther than I usually go when finding places to eat. I try to stay close to campus, it's easier.” Seungcheol just nodded at that. But when it looked like Jihoon was content with just looking over the menu in silence, Seungcheol let out a small sigh.

He was starting to feel a little miffed. Jihoon didn't seem very interested in keeping conversation. Seungcheol was never one who actually needed a second person to reply to hold a conversation, but he would at least like to know that his date was interested in him. Sure, it was a blind date, but his date could try to act like he wanted to be here. But he thought that he should count his blessings, at least he was getting a little more than just yes or no answers.

The waiter returned, and they both ended up getting the same thing without planning to. Jihoon sent him a surprised look at that, but didn't say anything about it.

When the waiter left, Seungcheol decided to leave the conversation in the hands of his date, to see if he would try to start one up on his own. After 2 uncomfortable position shifts and 3 phone checks later, Seungcheol realized he wasn't going to get anything out of his companion.

Seungcheol rubbed his face in slight frustration. He knew this was a bad idea, and now he was stuck, at least until the food arrived. Seungcheol was suddenly no longer in the mood for this.

“Look, if you weren't interested, you could have just told Soonyoung no and saved us both the time.” Spoke up Seungcheol, unable to keep his frustration from bleeding into his words.

Seungcheol had expected Jihoon to be offended, or at least upset at his sudden call out. But all Jihoon did was let out a deep sigh. “Okay, I'm sorry. I'm just... a little nervous.” Came Jihoon’s hesitant reply.

Seungcheol was taken back, for that wasn't what he expected. Jihoon didn't look nervous, he looked bored.

“Are you sure? Because you seem more like you just want this to be over with.”

Jihoon looked up at Seungcheol from where he was earlier looking downward. It was only then that Seungcheol caught a glimpse of the nerves the boy said he had.

“Yeah, this is the first date I've had in while, I'm not entirely sure what to do..” Trailed off Jihoon. Seungcheol started to feel a little pity for him, now that he knew that the boy wasn't just uninterested.

“How long is a while?” Asked Seungcheol.

Jihoon looked back down at the table. “Never?”

Seungcheol was surprised to say the least. Before Seungcheol could say anything to console him in any way, Jihoon looked back up with a much more fierce look on his face.

“But don't think it's because I couldn't. I just wasn't interested.” Seungcheol held his hands up in surrender at that.

“Hey now, I'm not judging, just surprised.” He had been in college for 3 years now, and he had yet to run into someone who hadn't at least been on one date. That only got Seungcheol curious.

“But why come on a blind date if you wouldn't accept any from people you actually know?”

Jihoon looked off to the side, out the window besides their booth. He seemed to be debating whether to tell Seungcheol or not. “Well, honestly? It wasn't much of a blind date for me.”

Now that got Seungcheol really confused. “What do you mean by that?”

“Soonyoung had showed me pictures. It was the only reason he got me to agree to come.” Seungcheol could feel a small blush build up in his face at the news. He might have been reading a bit into it, but that meant that Jihoon had actually said yes to come on the date because of how Seungcheol looked. It also boosted his ego a little bit.

Seungcheol coughed, trying to dispel the awkward tension that formed after the confession. He couldn't hide the small smile that formed afterwards though.

Their food arrived then and Jihoon looked happy to have an excuse not to talk again. Seungcheol began to eat too, but asked, “So was that why you were so sure I was your date? Because you'd seen pictures of me before?” Jihoon just nodded, his cheeks full of food. Seungcheol had to admit, he looked cute.

Seungcheol settled into his seat, in a much better mood. Now that Seungcheol knew that his date actually did want to be there, the conversation began to flow much more naturally. He asked about Jihoon’s school life, like what his major was and if he lived on campus. To which he learned that music composition and yes were the answers respectfully. He explained that he roomed with an exchange student named Junhui, who was apparently quite the character.

Jihoon seemed to lighten up with Seungcheol’s mood, and actually started to ask questions back. Seungcheol explained that he lived in an apartment nearby, and was able to afford it without roommates because his family was pretty well off and they didn't like the idea of dorm living. It apparently encouraged 'bad behavior' quoted Seungcheol, with finger quotes and everything.

They then went on to talk about their friends, where he learned that Jihoon’s best friends were named Mingyu and Wonwoo, who were apparently dating. He even admitted that seeing them in a relationship was what spurred him to start seeking out one also.

Seungcheol was even able to get a laugh out of Jihoon, well, more of a chuckle, when he was reenacting a time when Seokmin showed up at his door with a nearly passed out Soonyoung. He had apparently gotten into a battle of who could take the most shots with a stranger at the bar over some girl.

“Sounds like something Soonyoung would do. He's always out to impress at the club at school.” Chuckled Jihoon. It was nice to have at least a common person to talk about that they both knew.

Sometime in the middle of their conversation, the waiter had came with the bill and left with the plates. Before Jihoon could realize what Seungcheol was doing, he snatched the small booklet from the side of the table and slid his card in.

”That’s not fair.” Pouted Jihoon. “At least let me pay for my part of the meal.” Jihoon was already reaching back for his wallet, but Seungcheol wasn’t having it.

”No way. I’m not going to let you pay for your own food when it was my friend who dragged you out here to begin with.” Explained Seungcheol.

Jihoon looked like he wanted to put up more of a fight, but ultimately decided against it. He ended up sending him a smile of gratitude.

A little while after that, Seungcheol checked his phone for the time out of habit, only to see that it now read '8:43'. He was pleasantly surprised by the fact that nearly 3 hours had passed since his date had showed up, for they got lost in conversation.

With the check already paid for, they were free to leave at any time. Jihoon also ended up checking the time when he saw Seungcheol do so. He began to pick up and slide back on his jacket, all the while explaining, “I should probably go, the next bus shows up at 9 and I still have some homework to finish.”

Seungcheol began to collect himself too, for it was getting late. But he had such a nice time, he wasn't about to have his date go back home on public transportation. “I have my car here, if you wanted a ride back to your dorm?” Offered Seungcheol.

Jihoon looked over after he had stood up, watching as Seungcheol did the same. Seungcheol couldn't help the smile that was on his face.

“You know what, yeah. I would really appreciate it.” Seungcheol inwardly fist pumped, ecstatic that Jihoon had taken his offer.

They quickly made their exit and fast walked over to Seungcheol’s parked car, for Seungkwan’s outfit for Seungcheol didn't include a jacket. They both slid into Seungcheol’s old beat up truck after he unlocked the doors. Jihoon looked around expectantly as Seungcheol turned on the heat. He saw the look and asked, “Whatcha looking for?”

Jihoon just shrugged as Seungcheol put the truck into reverse. “I dunno, I just expected something newer since you told me your family was pretty well off.”

Seungcheol chuckled at that. “Just because they are well off doesn't mean they don't believe in hard work. I actually bought this myself right after I got out of high school with all the money I saved up from a part time job.” Jihoon nodded, for he too believed in hard work and how most things in life were earned.

Seungcheol was just heading in the general direction of the university, but then asked for specific directions once they got close.

Jihoon pointed out the closest drop off point, and explained that he would have to walk the rest of the way to his dorm.

Seungcheol put the truck into park when he made it into the spot, and turned to Jihoon. “Well, I'm going to be honest with you. This date took a complete 180 from what I thought it was going to be.” Said Seungcheol with a light smile on his face.

Jihoon just eyed him, a playful smirk on his face. “And I'm suppose to take that as a compliment?” Teased Jihoon.

Seungcheol then morphed his face into the most serious face he could muster. He replied with a, “Of course.”, trying to come off as snobbish. He couldn't keep it up long for a smile tugged on his lips.

Jihoon just rolled his eyes at the boys antics. “So I guess I'll see you around?” The question held a hopefully note at the end. Seungcheol was quick to grab onto the metaphorical bait that Jihoon was casting.

“Of course! But I'll need your number if we wanted to plan another date maybe?” It was Seungcheol’s turn to sound hopeful.

Jihoon just reached into his back pocket and handed over his phone to Seungcheol. He took note that the model was a little older, but was still able to navigate to the contacts easily enough. After inputting his number and sending himself a quick text, he handled the device back to Jihoon.

That was when Jihoon finally opened his car door and hopped out, but turned back before closing it. “Hey, thanks for the ride. And the night. I had fun.” Jihoon seemed a little shy, not seeming comfortable with admitting to something so embarrassing.

Seungcheol nodded while saying, “I did too.” Jihoon nodded back and went to close the truck door. While his guard was down, Jihoon let a full blown smile form on his face. Seungcheol was immediately entranced by the glimpse he got of it.

Seungcheol jumped slightly from the sound of the truck door slamming shut, which had temporarily cut off his view of Jihoon and his smile.

Seungcheol sat in his car and watched Jihoon’s retreating form for a little bit. It wasn't until he could no longer see Jihoon that he shifted his car back into drive.


	2. October 12th, 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait!

Seungcheol sat on the floor in between his couch and coffee table. He had his arms crossed over his chest, a scowl prominent on his face. On the coffee table in front of him laid his phone, screen bright. It proudly displayed Jihoon’s contact, now edited to have the name "Jihoonnie" at the top of it. But not after long, the phone screen dimmed, then turned off completely because of the long wait between touching it.

Scowling deeper, Seungcheol pressed the home button, returning the phone to full luminescence. After 3 times of it going blank, Seungcheol decided to turn the dimming feature off, annoyed that his brooding was getting interrupted.

It had been 2 days since his date with Jihoon. A good 65 hours has passed since Seungcheol last talked to Jihoon if both his math and clock were correct. Seungcheol wanted to desperately contact Jihoon so he could finally talk with the boy who had been consuming his thoughts.

There wasn't anything about the date that made fireworks go off in Seungcheol’s head, no indication of it being extraordinary. But there was just something about Jihoon that kept Seungcheol replaying the conversations they had in his head. He was confident that he could recite their conversations word for word if asked to do so. He needed more information, another conversation for him to mull over, or he was going to go crazy.

Just getting around to actually starting a conversation with the boy was turning out to be difficult. He hadn't been this interested in someone in a long time. The only one of recent was Jeonghan, and before that, was no one. And he definitely didn't want a repeat of Jeonghan to happen. He needed to be witty! Interesting! All things Seungcheol didn't think he was when just having a casual conversation.

After about 5 more minutes of staring, Seungcheol slowly shifted in his spot so he could lay comfortably down on his back, parallel with the couch. He stared up to the ceiling for what seemed like 5 more minutes.

Suddenly, Seungcheol sat up with a cry of, "This is stupid!" He stood, deciding that this was a matter that a full stomach would greatly help with.

But only halfway to the connected kitchen, he felt himself slowly slide to his knees. Soon, he was laying face down in the middle of his apartments floor. With his eyes closed, he moaned out a muffled and drawn out, "What do I dooooo."

He continued to repeat his sentence, slowly sounding more whiny the more he repeated it. For added effect, he began to roll from one wall to the other, only switching to rolling the other way after his side made contact with a wall. It wasn't helping him make a decision, but it somehow made his feelings seem validated.

But after a few more roll laps across his living room, his side bumped into something that definitely wasn't his wall. Stopping mid sentence, Seungcheol looked up to see what had interrupted him. He was met with the eyes of Seokmin, who had a worried look on his face.

"Are you okay?" Asked Seokmin, mainly out of courtesy. It was obvious Seungcheol wasn't.

Seeing that it was just Seokmin, Seungcheol tried to continue his rolling. But Seokmin wasn't having it. Before Seungcheol could reach his other wall, he felt a heavy weight land on his stomach, causing him to huff out the breath he had unexpectedly lost.

"This is not the reason why I gave you a key to my place." Coughed out Seungcheol. Seokmin wasn't even trying to keep some of his weight from crushing Seungcheol’s lungs.

"Yeah, but this is." Seokmin then waved the bag he had in his hands in front of Seungcheol’s face. "So get off the floor so we can enjoy this before it gets cold." And with that, Seokmin stood up and walked off to the kitchen. Seungcheol sucked in an over dramatic gasp of air in Seokmin’s wake.

Seungcheol then picked himself off the floor, reason as to why he was rolling around in the first place temporarily forgotten. When Seungcheol and Seokmin had succeeded in distributing the take out that Seokmin had so graciously brought over to share, they went and sat on Seungcheol’s couch. When Seokmin was reaching for the tv remote, his eyes found the still lit up phone.

His aim was no longer for the remote as Seokmin redirected his hand to pick up Seungcheol’s phone instead. "Well, at least I now know why you were freaking out." Said Seokmin with a smirk.

Seungcheol turned his head defiantly in the other direction, all the while stuffing food into his face. It gave him a good excuse to not answer.

"Why don't we just have Soonyoung invite him over?"

Seungcheol whipped his head back, an excuse as to why that wasn't a good idea on the tip of his tongue.

Seungcheol was greeted with a wide smiling Seokmin, who had his phone facing Seungcheol to reveal that it was too late. Seokmin had already sent a text to Soonyoung on his phone asking if him and Jihoon would like to come hang out with Seokmin and Seungcheol.

Seungcheol snatched his phone out of Seokmin’s hand, sending him a death glare in the process. The food that puffed out his cheeks made it look a lot less intimidating though. Seokmin held his hands up in surrender.

"Hey, chill. I could have just texted Jihoon and had left you here alone to deal with it, but I didn't because I'm a good friend." Said Seokmin, who was returning to his earlier task of turning on the tv. Seungcheol just narrowed his eyes at the boy, not liking his logic as to why he should be grateful to Seokmin for picking the lesser of the two evils.

Seungcheol’s phone vibrated in his hand. He looked down, a swirl of emotions taking place deep in his stomach. Now that someone had taken initiative, Seungcheol was starting to feel really nervous about seeing Jihoon again. He couldn't deny the slight tinge of anticipation that was also mixing around in there.

It was a message from Soonyoung.

_'Hey man! I messaged him. But he said he's real busy on Mondays.'_

Right when he finished reading it, he got another. 

_'He made it seem that he was sad he had to say no tho!'_

Seungcheol flopped back against the couch, now thoroughly disappointed. He could tell Soonyoung was just trying to keep him positive about the rejection.

Seokmin looked over to the slumped Seungcheol, eyebrow raised in question. "I'll take that as a no go?"

Seungcheol nodded sadly as he got one last message from Soonyoung. 

_'But I'm still invited over, right?'_

Seungcheol looked down at his phone. Even though he was disappointed that Jihoon wouldn’t be accompanying him, he wasn’t about to leave Soonyoung hanging.

_‘Yeah of course man. Seokmin brought food.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about being gone so long to only post a short chapter! But I'm pretty sure I'm going to make this fic a pretty long one so I'll make up for it in the long run.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	3. October 12th, 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry about being slow with updates...

"Why did you say that you were busy?"

Jihoon twisted his neck at near breakneck speeds, only to come face to face with his roommate Junhui. The boy seemed unfazed as he slowly blinked at Jihoon’s shocked expression. It didn't last long though, soon a scowl settled in its place.

Jihoon pressed his phone to his chest, hiding it away from the prying eyes of Junhui. "Why do you think you deserve to know?" Questioned Jihoon back defensively. He didn’t like the fact that Junhui just read over his shoulder.

Junhui leaned back from where he was previously hovering over Jihoon’s shoulder. He shrugged nonchalantly at the question as he made his way around Jihoon’s bed and into their small kitchenette.

Jihoon was being generous when he referred to it as a kitchenette. It was just a corner of the room that held a mini fridge, a sink and a small counter top that was mainly taken up by Junhui’s microwave. The only way you could really tell that it was suppose to be a separate section from the rest of the room was the small square of tiles that differed from the carpet which laid in it's majority. But calling it a kitchenette was simpler.

"How did your date go?" Asked Junhui, almost throwing Jihoon with the sudden topic change. Jihoon squinted at Junhui’s back as the boy leaned over and opened their fridge. He distinctly remembered withholding that information from his roommate. Jihoon almost wanted to ask how he knew he went on one, but he already knew he wasn't going to get a straight answer.

Junhui remained a small mystery to Jihoon, even after the 2 years they have spent being roommates in college. When Jihoon was assigned Junhui as his roommate freshman year, he found out that he was one of the lucky ones. Junhui was surprisingly quiet and clean, all things Jihoon was thankful for in a roommate. The only downside was that Junhui had a habit of somehow knowing things that he shouldn't about Jihoon.

As first, he suspected Junhui of going through his stuff. There was no way Junhui could know that Jihoon went and visited his parents every Sunday, or the fact that he had a pet rabbit when he was younger without at least looking at some of his personal belongings.

After Jihoon started to take note of Junhui knowing things he wasn't suppose to, he was slightly suspicious of the boy snooping around where he shouldn't have been. But Jihoon soon noticed that none of his stuff was ever misplaced. He even went as far as to take a picture of his desk before leaving for the day, only to check when he got back to see if anything was moved.

He had done that for a week straight before he came to conclusion that, no, the boy hasn't been messing with his personal belongings. Which meant that Junhui was either scary good at putting things back where he had found them, or he wasn't getting his information from looking at Jihoon’s stuff.

When Jihoon asked how Junhui had known about such things without directly telling him, Junhui just answered abstractly with a, "I just read people well." Jihoon wanted to call bullshit, but he had no evidence to incriminate the boy.

Other than the fact that Junhui was borderline creepy on the info he knew about him, he was an ideal roommate. Which was why Jihoon had requested to room with him for a 2nd year. As long as none of his stuff had been touched or taken, Jihoon could deal with creepy.

So instead of asking how Junhui had known, he answered with, "Really well actually." Jihoon had relaxed against his bed now that Junhui wasn't being nosy over his shoulder.

"Then why did you turn down the invite to hang out?" Asked Junhui as he finally pulled out what he had been rummaging around for, which was a bag of grapes. He popped one in his mouth casually, keeping a curious gaze pointed at Jihoon. Jihoon wanted to be mad at Junhui’s persistence and near mind reading skill, but Jihoon knew the only person he should be mad at was himself for letting his guard down.

Jihoon let out a small huff when he realized that it would be pointless to try to hide anything from Junhui. "Because Seungcheol wasn't the one to invite me."

Junhui quirked an eyebrow at that as he walked back over to Jihoon. He plopped down next to Jihoon, making the bed bounce. "But aren't you friends with the guy who invited you?"

"Yeah, but we've never hung out outside of the dance club. The only reason why he would have asked me to come hang out would to get me to come see Seungcheol again." Said Jihoon matter of factly.

Junhui seemed to pause their conversation when he raised a grape to be level with Jihoon mouth. Jihoon opened his mouth almost unconsciously to the offered fruit. Junhui popped it in before asking, "So you would have gone if Seungcheol asked?"

Jihoon flopped back onto the bed in exasperation at that. He actually wasn't sure himself. If he was being completely honest with himself, he was actually caught off guard when he got Soonyoung’s text only a few minutes earlier.

Jihoon had been debating ever since his date if he should be the first one to text Seungcheol or not. He was new to this dating business and he wasn't aware of proper customs that went along with it. Was Seungcheol suppose to be the one to text first because he was the one to ask for the others number? How many days should he wait before he realized that he had exceeded the 'I'm just trying to not seem too eager' first days and entered the 'I wasn't actually interested and only asked to be polite' stage?

Too many variable that Jihoon felt he wasn't in control of. So when he got the text from Soonyoung, not Seungcheol, he sort of panicked and just made up the lame excuse of being busy.

He tried to not let the small seed of bitterness grow in his stomach. Was Soonyoung asking to hang out because Seungcheol was too nervous to do so himself? Or was he doing it because Seungcheol had told Soonyoung that he wasn't going to text Jihoon and was being his usual nosy self and was taking their dating life into his own hands? Too many possibilities...

"I don't know." Answered Jihoon truthfully.

Junhui then leaned back too, so he was lying parallel with Jihoon. They both started up at the ceiling, the only sound audible in the room was the slightly gross chewing coming from Junhui.

Before Jihoon could spiral into the depths of his own mind, forever lost to think up explanations as to what had just happened, he saw another grape enter his peripherals. He opened his mouth and caught the dropped grape before chewing on it thoughtfully.

Jihoon didn't know if he was enjoying his first experience at dating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I kinda just realized that this fic might end up ridiculously long if I keep going with the timeline like I have been.... 
> 
> But again, thank you for reading!


	4. October 14th, 2015

Seungcheol leaned his head heavily onto his hand, which was propped up on his desk by his elbow. He had a math test at the end of the week, and it was his worst subject. A small groan emitted from his throat as the formulas in his notebook started to blur together.

Seungcheol rubbed his eyes hard, trying to convince them to uncross before he looked over to his cell phone. He pressed the power button to wake up his phone to see what time it was. The clock shone bright in his dim room, telling him that it was now 11:47.

Seungcheol bit his lip softly, debating whether or not to call it a night. He had been at it for almost 3 hours now, but had only successfully been able to remember and implement about 2/3 of the formulas he knew he was expected to have memorized by his math class on Friday. He decided that 3 hours was enough for today, and stood from his desk to get ready for bed.

In the middle of pulling off his shirt, he heard his text ringtone go off. Curious as to who would be texting him at this time, he walked over to his desk with his shirt still half on. He heart sputtered in his chest after he woke up his phone, reading that the text message was from a, 'Jihoonnie'.

Quickly finishing his earlier act of ditching his shirt, he reached over and fully picked up his phone. Before he even dared to open it, he made his way back across his room and sat comfortably on his bed. Seungcheol wanted to devote all his attention to the text he just received.

To be completely honest with himself, he had no idea what to expect out of the text. The idea of Jihoon texting him first didn't even cross his mind. Sure, he knew that the boy had his number too, but he kinda was a traditionalist in the sense that since he was the one who asked for the number, he was the one who was going to text first.

But sadly, both his nerves and his busy school schedule had gotten in the way of him being the first to message. But now that Jihoon had taken initiative, he was slightly relieved.

He leaned back a little more into his bed before unlocking and opening the unread message.

_'If you even think about doing something you shouldn't, I'll tell Mingyu about Junhui. And you know how much of a kicked puppy he can be about such things.'_

Seungcheol couldn't help but make a face at the text. What was that suppose to mean?? Was this like a test? Was there like a hidden message in this that Seungcheol was suppose to figure out?

He recognized both the names in the message, Mingyu being Jihoon’s friend and Junhui being his roommate.

Before Seungcheol could ponder even more on the strange late night text, he received another.

_'Please ignore the earlier message, that wasn't meant for you.'_

Seungcheol frowned at the second message. The wording of the text sounded crisp and cold. Realizing now that Jihoon had only accidentally sent him the earlier message, he started to feel slightly down.

Seungcheol was almost tempted to just put his phone down and continue with his earlier plan of going to sleep. Jihoon’s second message was very uninviting, but Seungcheol tried to ignore the small sense of dread in his stomach because of it. If anything, he finally had a good excuse to message the boy he had been thinking about ever since they met.

_'I have no idea what that was about, but my regards go out to whoever that message was for.'_

Seungcheol stared at the screen, rereading his typed message about 5 times. He didn't want his first message to Jihoon to have any spelling errors, plus he gave himself points for sounding slightly witty. Exactly what he was aiming for.

Before he could psych himself out of sending the text, he pressed the send button before quickly setting his phone down beside him on the bed. He stared up at the ceiling, letting the fact that he had finally texted Jihoon seep in.

Seungcheol started to wring his fingers, feeling more nervous every second he waited for a reply. Maybe replying at all was a bad idea. About 2 minutes had passed since he sent his reply and he was started to feel embarrassed at his actions.

Seungcheol got up and headed for his connected bathroom, intentionally leaving his phone behind on the bed. He wasn't going to stick around waiting for a reply that might not even come, even if he was the only one who knew he was waiting around for it.

He had just stuck his toothbrush in his mouth when he heard his phone go off. 

Seungcheol forced himself to finish brushing his teeth before allowing himself to go and check his phone. He didn't want to seem to eager.

_'It was to my friend Wonwoo. He likes to stick his nose into other people's business.'_

Seungcheol felt both relieved and unsure from the text. He would like to think that the reply back meant that he was on board for talking, but in a way it seemed more of a obligatory reply then anything else.

He bit his lip, debating if this was a good sign or not. Sure, Jihoon had replied, but it was with something that Seungcheol couldn't really think of a good reply for. He debated asking about what Wonwoo was being nosy about, but figured that was asking too much. Jihoon could have easily explained what it was about on his own, but very obviously opted out of providing that information.

_'Well, I hope Wonwoo picks the smart route. Which is to not do what you don't want him to do.'_

Nope. That's not a good message at all. Seungcheol scowled at his phone as he held down the delete button, watching his earlier words get erased.

_'Wonwoo is the one who's dating Mingyu, right?'_

Once again, Seungcheol found himself deleting the message. What was he trying to do here? He didn't want to try and hold a conversation right now in the middle of the night. He wanted to try and set up another date.

_'Well, I hope Wonwoo makes the right choice. But I also wanted to say sorry that I hadn't texted you earlier. I really did want to but school's been a bitch. But if you were up for it, I’d like to ask you out on another date? Maybe this Friday?'_

There. Seungcheol nodded to himself once he read it over again. Straight to the point. Jihoon seemed like he could appreciate someone who didn't beat around the bush.

Seungcheol quickly hit send, not wanting to ultimately decide to delete this one too. Plus he was starting to feel bad, it had now been 10 minutes since he got his last text from Jihoon.

Once again, Seungcheol threw his phone off to the side of the bed. When was he not going to feel nervous for the upcoming text?

His phone binged from its spot less than a minute later. Seungcheol reached for it, surprised by the speedy response.

_‘Yeah, that sounds cool to me. When and where?’_

Seungcheol smiled down to his phone, excited that Jihoon was on board for meeting up again.

_‘How about the schools rec center? at 6?’_

Seungcheol sighed at his idea of a date. He honestly thought it wasn’t all that great of an idea, but you can only think of so many places to go on a date at 12:15 at night. He debated changing his initial idea to asking if he was cool with coming over and playing video games or something, but thought better of it. He didn't want to scare him off with the idea of being somewhere not public for a second date.

_‘That works for me.’_ Came Jihoon’s swift reply. 

_‘Alright! I’ll see you then! <3’_

Seungcheol squinted at his phone. Maybe the heart was overkill. Maybe he was just really excited that he now had plans to meet up with Jihoon again. Maybe Seungcheol brain was just dead from 3 hours of studying followed by this.

Whatever it was, it compelled him to click the send button without deleting the heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALRIGHT. Man.. I'm so sorry about the slow updates.. BUT. I've been really getting back into this, especially now that my best friend has decided to be my beta reader!! Which also means, that I went back and edited the last 3 chapters! There was nothing major, just small things here and there that I felt I needed to change. BUT YES. Please enjoy! <3


	5. October 15th, 2015

Jihoon let his backpack plop heavily on to the floor after entering his dorm room, not bothering to soften the fall. His creative writing teacher had been working him hard this semester, expecting him to produce full blown short stories in only a week.

Jihoon hadn't actually managed to finish his last one, too caught up in small details. By the time he realized he spent too much time worrying about the small details in the beginning of the story, he only had a day left to finish the second half.

He had ended up turning it in half finished, at least hoping his teacher would still give him partial credit. Jihoon had just returned to his dorm after said class, already mulling over ideas for the one his teacher had just assigned.

His thoughts on what he was going to do for his class were interrupted by the surprise of seeing someone laying on his bed. His surprise soon transformed to irritation upon realizing just who was laying on his bed.

“How did you get in here Wonwoo?” Asked Jihoon, his prominent scowl easily showing in his words.

Wonwoo peeked open one eye, lazily taking in Jihoon's form standing next to him by the bed.

“Junhui let me in.”

At the mention of his roommate, Jihoon’s head whipped over to said boy, who was sitting at his own desk by the door. As if Junhui somehow knew Jihoon was now glaring at him, he flipped his hand up in the air without turning from his homework, acknowledging that he was the culprit.

“And _why _did you feel it necessary to come and disturb me uninvited?” Huffed Jihoon, who continued on with what he was originally doing, which was making himself comfortable.__

__Jihoon stepped on the heels of his shoes, making it so he could flip them off into some remote corner for him to have to go find tomorrow morning._ _

__“Well, I did receive a text from you last night that vaguely sounded like you were trying to threaten me. So here I am, coming to not do something about how you won't text that guy you are interested in.” Wonwoo had closed his eyes again as he crossed his arms behind his head._ _

__Before Jihoon could reply, Junhui spoke up._ _

__“He actually has another date with him tomorrow.” Explained Junhui from his spot, not even bothering to look away from his school work._ _

__At that, Wonwoo's eyes popped open as a wide smile spread over his face.__

“Oh, do you now?” Smirked Wonwoo. “Did the guy finally text you?” 

__Jihoon couldn't decide where he needed to focus his glare to do most damage. His tried Junhui first, but the boy wasn't even paying attention so he quickly redirected it to his smug looking friend._ _

__“ _Actually_ , I texted him first.” Replied Jihoon smoothly._ _

__For the past few days, Jihoon had humored the idea of texting Seungcheol first. He would open a new messenger to Seungcheol, write a message, but then delete it before getting the courage to send it._ _

__Wonwoo had caught on to what he had been doing, and said something along the lines of texting Seungcheol himself, threatening to tell him how much of a love sick puppy Jihoon had been the past few days if he didn't finally send any of the texts he writes._ _

__Jihoon hadn't taken the threat seriously, sarcastically asking how Wonwoo could possibly do that if he didn't even have Seungcheol's phone number._ _

__As Wonwoo was leaving for the night to return to his own dorm, he flashed the contact on his phone over to Jihoon and left with a “I might have grabbed it from your phone earlier.”_ _

__Wonwoo had narrowly dodged the shoe that went flying at him from his spot in the doorway, laughing growing distant as he made a run for it._ _

__Which lead to Jihoon having to send his threat over text. In his haste, he accidentally opened Seungcheol's messenger rather than Wonwoo's who was right underneath Seungcheol's in his recently opened contacts._ _

__Which might have been the best mistake he had made in a long time, since it lead to Seungcheol asking to see him tomorrow. But Wonwoo didn't need to know about any of that._ _

__Wonwoo raised his eyebrow at Jihoon’s words, not fully believing that Jihoon would have built up the nerve to text Seungcheol from the last time they had seen each other, which was less than 24 hours ago._ _

__Jihoon glanced over to Junhui, a tint of worry in his look. He had half the mind to think that if Junhui knew about his date tomorrow, he knew about the series of events that lead up to it._ _

__This time, Junhui put his pencil down on the desk before turning and making eye contact with Jihoon. Keeping his face neutral, Junhui finger pointed over to Jihoon all the while sending him an over exaggerated wink._ _

__Jihoon scowled at the boy, knowing full well that meant that Junhui was aware of the lie he just told Wonwoo, but was choosing to stay quiet about it._ _

__“I'm surprised, you taking initiative in something social? Very rare for you. Must mean this Seungcheol guy is something special.” Mused Wonwoo from Jihoon’s bed, unaware for the exchange going on between Jihoon and Junhui._ _

__Jihoon sent a 'I'm watching you' gesture over to Junhui before turning his attention back to Wonwoo._ _

__Jihoon didn’t want to acknowledge what Wonwoo had just said, so he decided to ignore it in favor of changing the subject._ _

__“Which _means_ ,” Began Jihoon before he jumped and landed directly onto Wonwoo’s stomach, causing him to curl up and sputter from the impact. “That you have no need for Seungcheol’s number.”_ _

__Wonwoo bucked up under Jihoon, causing him to slide off and land parallel with Wonwoo on the bed. The bed was a simple twin, but both boys were pretty skinny, so laying side by side meant they fit perfectly._ _

__Jihoon then presented his hand to Wonwoo. “So hand over your phone.”_ _

__Wonwoo high fived Jihoon’s hand before saying, “No can do. I need it just in case.”_ _

__At that, Jihoon saw Junhui stand from his desk, and start to make his way over to the two boys lying down._ _

__Before either of them could figure out what Junhui was doing, he came and pushed Wonwoo slightly, making room for him to squish onto the bed with them. It was a tight fit, even after Junhui finally settled in a curled up position in Wonwoo’s side. Junhui then snuggled his head into the junction where Wonwoo’s neck and shoulder meet._ _

__All Wonwoo did was move his arm from behind his head to around Junhui’s shoulders, helping to keep the boy in place._ _

__While Junhui and Wonwoo were busy situating to accommodate a new person on the bed, Jihoon too had to re-adjust. Jihoon squirmed a little so that his could flip from being on his back to his side without accidentally falling off._ _

__“I want Seungcheol’s number too.” Said Junhui from his spot in Wonwoo’s neck.__

Jihoon scowled at the two from his new position. “See, this is the shit I was talking about. You know Mingyu would be upset to see you two cuddling.” 

__Wonwoo sent him a genuinely confused look as Junhui sent him an over exaggerated one, complete with doe eyes and fluttering eyelashes. While Wonwoo was just a naturally touchy person, Junhui knew exactly what he was doing._ _

__“I dunno what you're talking about, we aren't cuddling. I'm just making sure Junhui doesn't fall off.” Explained Wonwoo._ _

__Jihoon was very close to blurting that Junhui didn't even need to be on the bed with them in the first place, but he bit his tongue. He felt a headache coming on, and he knew it would grow to be a full blown one if he had to explain Junhui’s home wrecker actions to an oblivious Wonwoo._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a side note I wanted to maybe point out. I know that the endings are kinda abrupt, but that's kinda the feeling I want to go for? This is mainly a booklet with snippets of scenes that are crucial to the build up of the JiCheol relationship. So anything past that timeline wise, I don't include. Which is why I do that. Hopefully it plays off that way!
> 
> Thank you again for reading! <3


	6. October 16th, 2015

Seungcheol leaned back into his seat, making himself comfortable in one of the many small cushioned chairs that were placed strategically around the university’s recreation building. He adjusted slightly so he could pull out his phone from his back pocket and pull up an app he had just recently downloaded onto it.

He had arrived there 20 minutes earlier, having headed straight over after his math class he had at 4. Seungcheol wasn’t feeling too confident in how he did on his test, but he was done for the week school work wise so he was trying not to dwell on it.

It was now 5:30 in the afternoon, and Seungcheol was trying to stay preoccupied until Jihoon showed up. He had picked one of the chairs near the rec centers only entrance so that his line of sight could easily see who came and went from the building. He didn’t want to accidentally miss Jihoon coming in.

Seungcheol couldn’t help but bounce his leg, a nervous tick he did every now and then when he had nothing he could do but wait. It’d been a long time since he was this nervous to meet up with someone.

Now that he and Jihoon had both established in small ways that they were interested in seeing how being together would be like, Seungcheol was extra worried that he would somehow come off as boring or not entertaining.

Seungcheol's foot began to bounce harder at his thoughts. What if Jihoon got bored today? Why did he think that the rec center was a good idea? Jihoon had probably been here many times before, and it’s not like the place was updated often.

Seungcheol was brought out of his thoughts by a pair of shoes coming into view underneath his phone. He moved his phone to the side and allowed his gaze to follow up from the shoes to the owner's eyes.

Seungcheol heart sputtered for a second, caught off guard, when he met the eyes of Jihoon. He had a backpack slung onto his back, an eyebrow raised in question at Seungcheol.

Seungcheol could feel a slight blush form on his cheeks. While he was busy having an internal conflict, he forgot that he was suppose to be watching the door for Jihoon's arrival.

Seungcheol sprang up from his spot, greeting the boy with a enthusiastic, “Jihoon! You're early.”

At that, Jihoon pulls out his phone from his back pocket and checks the time. “Oh, I guess you're right.” Replies Jihoon casually.

Seungcheol beams down at the shorter boy, trying to push his earlier fears of being boring to the back of his mind. It was too late now to back out of his original idea and he didn’t want to show Jihoon in any way that he had doubts. So he bends down to fetch his backpack off the floor before turning to guide his companion farther into the building.

“How was your day?” Asks Seungcheol conversationally as they walked down the main buildings hallway.

“Not bad, I don't have classes on Fridays, so it was a pretty relaxing day.” Answered back Jihoon.

They were quick to make it to where Seungcheol was guiding them, which turned out to be an open area in the back of the building full of various activities to do.

In one corner was a rack full of basketballs for anyone to grab and take to the nearby basketball court. In the middle of the room was a few foosball and air hockey tables set up and a small net set up in the way back for people to play badminton at.

Seungcheol scanned the room quickly, features lighting up when his gaze landed on his target. He was happy to see that the rec center didn't seem to be as busy as it usually was on Fridays, which meant that the table he wanted was unoccupied at the moment.

Seeing it free and open for the taking, Seungcheol slow jogged over to the only ping pong table in the room, fully expecting Jihoon to follow behind him.

Seungcheol arrives before some other person could sweep in and claim the table. He dropped his backpack to the floor before looking behind him, only to see Jihoon standing where he left him, looking mildly confused at Seungcheol from his spot at the entrance. Seungcheol makes a big sweeping gesture with his arm, coaxing Jihoon to come join him.

When Jihoon arrives, Seungcheol is already wrist deep in the bag hanging off the side of the table.

“I was hoping that no one would be using the ping pong table.” Mused Seungcheol as he rummages around for a few seconds before pulling out 2 paddles and a ball.

Seungcheol then looks over and offers a paddle to Jihoon, an expectant look on his face. “You down to play?”

Jihoon easily grabs the outstretched paddle from Seungcheol. “I dunno, it's been a while since I last played ping pong.” All the while, Jihoon is fiddling with the paddle as he walks his way over to his side of the table, dropping his own backpack as he went.

Seungcheol smiles, knowing that meant that Jihoon wanted to play no matter what he had just said. He hurries over to his side of the table before taking stance, ready to serve at any second.

“You know the rules, right? It's exactly like tennis, just on a smaller scale.” Explains Seungcheol. He waits for Jihoon to nod. “But since you said you haven't played in awhile, I'll go easy on you.” All Jihoon could do was raise his eyebrow before Seungcheol drops the ball and serves a light hit over to Jihoon, while saying, “Love all.”

The ball easily clears the mini net in the middle of the table and bounces up to Jihoon.

When the ball reaches Jihoon, his arm snaps forward. The paddle makes contact with the ball fast and hard, causing a loud tink to resound in their small corner of the room.

Before Seungcheol can process what just happened, he hears the ball hit his side of the table and watches in awe as it flies past him.

Seungcheol whips his head back to where the ball landed then back at Jihoon, awe still prominent on his face. He's met with a smug looking Jihoon, who only just then let his arm relax from his back swing.

Jihoon then flips the paddle in his hand, all the while looking quite proud of himself. “What? You were the one who assumed you would have to go easy on me.”

Seungcheol grumbles the whole way to the ball, something about ungrateful boys who think they are all that.

When Seungcheol returns, he bounces the ball over to Jihoon's side, so he can have his turn to serve. “Alright, so you know how to play. Doesn't mean you're going to beat me! I play ping pong with Soonyoung all the time.”

Seungcheol wanted what he said to come off as a intimidating, but the challenging smirk he got from Jihoon told him that it didn't have the intended effect.

Jihoon spoke a small, “Love all.” before once again striking out and hitting the ball over to Seungcheol's side with frightening speed. But this time, Seungcheol was ready.

Seungcheol hit the ball back with just as much speed and precision. They ended up volleying back and forth a few good times before it ultimately ending with a point for Jihoon after the ball tipped Seungcheol's paddle and flew high up, making it nowhere near back over the net.

Seungcheol play scowled over at Jihoon, who somehow was looking more smug than he did before.

“Just you wait. This isn't even my final form.” explained Seungcheol lowly. Jihoon scoffed at what Seungcheol said as he readied to serve again.

“One, love.”

A few more rounds passed, all still at the fast pace they set beforehand. While during, they caught the attention of a few other students who were also milling around. A few stood and stared in awe off to the sides before continuing on with that they originally were here to do.

Seungcheol could feel a bead of sweat roll down the side of his face. He was getting nervous that he might not actually win this game. They were pretty evenly matched, but ever since Jihoon had made the first point early in the game, he’d been able to stay in the lead. True to the scoring of tennis, Seungcheol knew that if he stayed close behind, the game would continue until one of them got 2 more points then the other.

The score was now 5 to 5 draw. Luckily, it was Seungcheol turn to serve. He knew that he needed to do something different if he wanted to get a leading point on Jihoon.

Seungcheol eyes hardened with resolve as he eyed his opponent, getting ready to serve. Jihoon had yet to lose his knowing smirk, not at all worried that he was going to lose this game.

Seungcheol served with gusto, making a show of his hit by over exaggerating his arm movement.

Jihoon volleyed back easily while saying, “You're going to trip yourself up if you keep doing that.”

Seungcheol smiled widely as he hit the ball back, letting his arm fully cross over his chest and a little over his shoulder in the follow through. “But it makes me look cool.” Explains Seungcheol. He honestly didn't think it did, but he wanted Jihoon to think he thought he did. Maybe it would distract Jihoon enough to slip up.

They continued for a few more hits, Seungcheol still over dramatizing his movements. Unfortunately for Seungcheol, he didn't anticipate Jihoon taking advantage of how long his swings took him. When the ball made it back to Jihoon, he snapped his wrist forward, causing the ball to soar haphazardly back over to Seungcheol's side.

Unfortunately for Seungcheol, it was executed perfectly, thus leaving Seungcheol still in his follow through swing when the ball made it back to his side.

Seungcheol threw his arm out as quickly as possible, but only accomplished hitting the ball back towards the wall.

Seungcheol face fell as he followed after the ball listening to Jihoon's preach behind him. “And that's why you shouldn't do things unnecessarily.” Said Jihoon matter of factly.

Seungcheol was just disappointed his plan didn't work _and_ it was now Jihoon's serve, giving him the advantage.

Seungcheol dropped the act when Jihoon served, successfully getting Jihoon to miss after another long volley between them. At this point Seungcheol knew that it was pure luck that he was holding up this long, so he needed to change strategies.

“5 all.” Said Seungcheol smoothly as he served. This time though, he had a different plan.

After 2 volleys back and forth, Seungcheol implemented his plan. Right when he hit the ball back to Jihoon's side, he casually said, “You look really cute today.”

Jihoon's eyes flashed quickly from the ball that was heading towards him up to Seungcheol's, surprise on his face. In the split second that he was distracted, the ball hit the table on Jihoon's side then sailed off to hit Jihoon in the chest before dropping to the floor.

Seungcheol fist pumped the air, living up his victory. Jihoon glared over at him, having caught on to what Seungcheol had just did.

“That was cheap.” Said Jihoon as he stalked over to get the ball from where it had rolled.

All Seungcheol could do was stick his tongue out in retaliation. “If it helps, what I said was true!”

Seungcheol couldn't help but take note of the light dusting of pink on Jihoon's cheeks when he returned to his spot the table with a scowl on his face.

Ultimately, Jihoon ended up winning after he had caught on to the fact that Seungcheol was trying to use tricks to win.

Seungcheol wiped at his forehead with the back of his hand, getting rid of the excess moisture that built up after such an intense game. He was all smiles though as he made his way over to Jihoon's side of the table.

Jihoon eyed him suspiciously, looking like he wasn't sure how Seungcheol was going to act after losing. Seungcheol couldn't help himself though, as he threw his arm over Jihoon neck and pulled him into a tight hug. Jihoon's arms ended up pointing out straight, not sure where to put them.

Seungcheol let out a boisterous laugh at how stiff Jihoon was in his arms. He was honestly a little worried that Jihoon might react badly to the sudden skinship, but when Seungcheol pulled back to see a small smile on the boys face, the worry dissipated.

“Well, that was fun! I haven't had a worthy opponent like yourself in a long time. Don't tell him I said this, but honestly Soonyoung is so bad at this game... He's the only one I can get to play with me though.”

By now, Seungcheol had unattached from Jihoon, but stayed close when talking.

Jihoon just looked around at the rest of the room before pointing over to the foosball table with his thumb. “Down to get your butt handed to you at another game?”

Seungcheol hadn't felt so excited to spend time with someone like this in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not too confident on this chapter but.... yeah.
> 
> Thank you for reading!! <3


	7. October 20th, 2015

Junhui watched as Jihoon slouched over in his desk chair, homework left untouched, too busy typing away on his phone to actually get around to doing it.

He raised his eyebrow, not sure how to interpret this new development.

When Junhui and Jihoon first started out as roommates, it didn’t take long for Junhui to pin down exactly what kind of person Jihoon was. He was the classical definition of someone who was actually in college to learn. His school schedule came first in all instances, and homework was never left to be done later.

It slightly amused Junhui that his roommate was actually someone who seemed to be trying to get as much knowledge they could squeeze out of the education system. 

Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, it was rare to see such a student in college nowadays.

Which made Jihoon predictable in Junhui’s eyes. If Junhui could predict where Jihoon would be at school or when he was most likely doing school work, it made it easy to keep tabs on him. With his priorities easily deciphered, finding out other smaller things about Jihoon was just the rational next step.

Junhui found a small sort of misplaced pride in making Jihoon feel uneasy with how easy is was to read him. Jihoon was also the type who wanted to keep his private life to himself, not easily sharing things that happened in his life to someone as insignificant as a roommate. But in a way, because of that fact, it made it easy for Junhui to see if anything different had entered Jihoon’s unchanging schedule and priorities.

Junhui watched as a small smile formed on Jihoon lips, amused with something he just read off his phone. And for Jihoon, this definitely would be categorized under the ‘different’ section. Jihoon had basically been glued to his phone ever since he returned from his date on Friday, meaning it must have gone well.

Jihoon only ever texted two other people regularly, which were Wonwoo and his mother. For Jihoon to go from a few casual texts here and there in the day to never putting the thing down, told Junhui that Jihoon and that Seungcheol guy must had hit it off well enough to actually catch and keep Jihoon’s narrow minded focus.

The thing that really surprised him about this was that Seungcheol had not only caught Jihoon’s attention, but was able to divert it away from things he had kept number one on his priority list. Not even Jihoon's best friends could get in the way of Jihoon getting an ‘A’ in all of his classes.

Junhui watched from his bed as Jihoon finally put down his cell phone and pull his computer open to start on his homework, a small smile still on his face.

Junhui was debating weather or not he should even state the obvious. It didn’t take a mind reader to know that someone had just ended the conversation. But what Junhui could tell was that it was Jihoon who did it.

Junhui has gathered quite a bit of stored information on Jihoon from the 2 years they have spent in close quarters. So he knows that Jihoon is also the type of person to do the exact opposite of what people tell him to do, his parents exempt.

So if Seungcheol was to perhaps say a nicely thought, ‘Oh, don’t you have homework? Maybe you should get on that!’ It would have resulting in a disgruntled Jihoon, who would then lie and say he was already working on it. Or something equally similar.

The only way for Jihoon to have ended that conversation with the smile he has now would have been if Jihoon told Seungcheol that he was distracting him from his homework, which Seungcheol would have then easily told him that he was sorry for distracting (Which must have been viewed as cute in Jihoon’s eyes) thus leading us to the happy Jihoon who was now typing away on his laptop.

Junhui wanted to sigh from the predictability of it all. Maybe it didn’t help that he was a psychology major, only adding to Junhui’s already keen eye to reading human behavior.

Jihoon then received another text, causing the boy to look over to it curiously. Which meant that he hadn’t been expecting it. When Jihoon unlocked and read the message, a scowl came over his face. Which told Junhui that it wasn’t an unexpected message from Seungcheol, but someone else.

Junhui turned a page in his book, trying to keep up his facade of looking busy when Jihoon hopped up from his chair before heading over to their dorm door, all the while pulling his phone up to his ear after making a call to someone.

Junhui raised his eyebrow in question at Jihoon as he passed by where he was lounging on his bed, but Jihoon unintentionally ignored him, too lost in what he was doing to see it.

When it seemed like the call connected, Jihoon didn’t waste time with pleasantries.

“And why do you suddenly think it’s okay to invite yourself over all the time?” Asked Jihoon, exasperation heavy in his voice.

Jihoon paused as he listened to who Junhui deduced must be Wonwoo on the phone, since no one else has been popping up randomly as much as Wonwoo has been recently.

Junhui closed and set his book aside after realizing that Wonwoo was going to be making an appearance soon. He stood and brushed out his shirt, getting rid of excess wrinkles, which was unnecessary for his loose T-shirt.

Jihoon had since made it to their door and opened it just a crack to peer out, keeping an eye out for their unexpected visitor.

Junhui walked up behind the boy, easily able to look over Jihoon’s head through the crack, also now on the lookout.

Their dorm room was on the 2nd floor and off to the left side of their hallway, making it easier for them to keep a look out, knowing that visitors can only appear from the only stairwell in their building.

Jihoon continued to make only half serious threats over the phone as Junhui watched for the door to the stairwell to open a little ways down the hallway. When the door opened, Junhui was greeted to the sight of Wonwoo, who also had his phone pressed to his ear, a teasing smile on his face.

Junhui almost swooned every time he saw the boy. When Junhui had first met Wonwoo way back in the beginning of his roommate days with Jihoon, he knew he was in trouble.

The jet black of his hair was fluffy with crimps at the time, back in their freshman year of college. He had the emo look down to a tee, but in a more refined way than any high schooler could pull off. Junhui knew there was probably horribly embarrassing pictures of Wonwoo somewhere in existence that showed off the years when he was still trying to figure it out, but over the years Wonwoo had seemed to have finally found the perfect balance.

Now a days, Wonwoo kept his hair much more tame, foregoing the hair crimper for just smoothing it after a shower. His style had matured more since then too, but was no less as sexy to Junhui then his initial impression. If anything, it made Wonwoo even more attractive in Junhui’s eyes. It showed that he was more mature, but still had a wild side to him if drawn out properly.

Junhui’s thoughts were interrupted when a second figure appeared behind Wonwoo from the staircase. Junhui couldn’t help the frown that formed, but was quick to school his face back into a neutral look. Wonwoo’s tree of a boyfriend was quick to catch up to Wonwoo, who was making his way down to them at a quick pace.

Freshman Junhui’s daydreams had came to a screeching halt when he was introduced to Wonwoo’s boyfriend Mingyu.

Junhui had to admit, Mingyu wasn’t a bad person. His personality screams ‘people person’, and his major in communications was nothing to cough at. Mingyu’s only intimidating feature was his height, but was quickly overshadowed then forgotten by his bright personality and witty humor. In comparison to his blacked out and quite boyfriend, Mingyu was easily viewed as the much more approachable one out of the pair.

But Junhui still holds a grudge for being in his way to Wonwoo’s heart.

Junhui backs up from the door, away from the commotion that started when they arrived at the door. Jihoon wasn’t letting them in easily, but was quickly overpowered when both boys on the other side started to push in.

“Why you gotta be so difficult all the time Jihoon?” Questioned Mingyu good heartedly as he made his way into the small dorm room. Wonwoo followed behind casually, greeting Junhui when their eyes met.

Everyone was quick to take up residence in a seat around the room. Jihoon and Mingyu both found a spot on Jihoon’s bed as Wonwoo sat comfortably in the desk chair Jihoon had only recently vacated.

“We just wanted to come by and check up on our friend and his relationship status.” Explained Wonwoo coolly.

Jihoon scoffed at that, crossing his arms over his chest. “Which you could have easily found out over text. Why come all the way here?”

Wonwoo eyed him, a glint in his eye. “It’s easier to interrogate you when you can’t ignore our messages.” Wonwoo lost the glint as he slouched a little into his chair, a friendly smile now prominent on his face. “Plus, Mingyu was sad to hear that I’ve come and seen you without him.”

At that, Mingyu’s brought his arm around Jihoon and pulled him in close to his side, having to lean his head over nearly 90 degrees so he could settle it on top of Jihoon’s head.

Jihoon was quick to unattach himself from the giants side after the impromptu hug, seemingly flustered from the sudden affection from his friend.

Junhui watched everyone closely, deciphering everyone's actions and stance on the situation. It was easy to tell that Jihoon was only now just trying to keep up an act of being disturbed by their sudden visit. Junhui wanted to laugh at the idea of them having to interrogate him for details, for Jihoon was easily giving them answers to their questions.

To an untrained eye, it might look like Jihoon was actually trying to keep what happened on his date secret by saying their badgering was annoying, but Junhui could see the boy easily giving in to their questions after only slight pleading from the other two, eager to tell them about his experience.

Mingyu laughed boisterously to everything Jihoon said that was remotely funny. He was leaning towards the smaller boy, showing that he was very interested in what he was hearing. Mingyu’s face was one of the easiest for Junhui to read since the boy never tried to actually hide any of the emotions he was feeling. An open book to everyone to read.

Wonwoo was relaxed in his seat, happy to ask an extra question here and there when he felt appropriate or curious to something his boyfriends questions didn’t answer.

At first, Junhui had thought Wonwoo was also just another book, only at a slightly higher reading level. Nothing Junhui couldn’t figure out. And most of the time, he was.

When Junhui first thought that Wonwoo was just like everyone else, his first impression was slightly dulled by the fact. What fun was someone that Junhui could easily figure out?

It wasn’t until one day in their freshman year that Junhui found out Wonwoo wasn’t always easy to read.

It was when Wonwoo was visiting Jihoon without his puppy of a boyfriend by his side that Junhui thought it would be fun to maybe flirt a bit with the boy who had initially caught his attention.

Now that Junhui had come to the realization that Wonwoo wouldn’t be worth the effort of pursuing, he let his naturally flirty side take over.

It was known throughout the student body that Junhui was the class flirt. Skinship and teasing touches were common. Junhui was misguidedly amused by most people's reactions to him being so touchy. Many thought it funny, some found it disgusting. All Junhui knew was that he learned a lot about a person depending on what their reaction was.

The three of them were sitting in a small circle on the floor of the dorm room when Junhui had the idea. Despite not seeing Wonwoo as a challenge, thus omitting him from being someone to pursue, Junhui enjoyed Wonwoo’s company to a certain degree. So he liked to include himself in the conversation when Wonwoo was over, despite not directly being his friend.

So Junhui decided to take advantage of the MIA boyfriend but laying his head onto Wonwoo’s lap, using his spread out legs as a pillow. All Jihoon did was raise his eyebrow at Junhui’s action, already both familiar and use to Junhui’s flirty tendencies.

What really caught Junhui attention though was Wonwoo’s reaction. Junhui was fulling expecting a bro like “Dude.” and a small leg jostle to prompt Junhui into retreating. What he didn’t expect was a hand to land on his head, easily starting to brush his fingers through Junhui’s hair, as Wonwoo continued to explain how his Biology teacher had basically just screwed over the entire class.

Junhui liked to play a game of guessing what people's reactions will be to his actions, which he was rarely wrong. So to not only be proved wrong, but also get such a positive reaction surprised Junhui. His only thoughts being that he might have dismissed Wonwoo too early in the game.

From then on, Junhui had started to test the limit of what he could get away with. Try and see if Wonwoo really was more ambiguous than he initially was lead to believe. But unfortunately for Junhui, Jihoon also wasn’t daft, and was starting to catch onto his game.

Junhui was brought to the present again by Wonwoo standing from his seat as he looked at his phone. The topic of conversation had been changed sometime during Junhui’s reminiscing.

“Damn, I’m going to be late for my lecture again..” Mused Wonwoo as he pocketed his phone after checking the time.

“That’s what you get for only taking evening classes.” Shoots back Jihoon.

Wonwoo ignores Jihoon’s jab as he walked over to fist bump a good bye with Junhui, who returns it easily.

Wonwoo then makes his way over to the pair on the bed. Wonwoo ruffled Jihoon’s hair while saying, “Just don’t forget, I’m watching you. So you better let us know if you two go steady.”

Jihoon made a face at Wonwoo for his wording, all the while swatting his hand away so he could smooth out his messed up hair.

Wonwoo then leaned over and presses a quick kiss to Mingyu’s cheek. “And I’ll see you later.” Says Wonwoo with a wink. Mingyu just shoves him lightly, bidding him farewell.

Junhui felt something ugly stir in his stomach at the display of affection, surprising even himself. But he couldn’t help but bitterly think that Wonwoo’s potential as a person and a boyfriend was wasted on someone as simple as Mingyu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay but I'm also low key WonHui trash so this happened. (But also I have some plans so no worries, it's still relevant) ((I hope))


	8. October 22nd, 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im so sorry.. I planned on getting this out on Friday but I ended up getting the flu the day before, so i spent the majority of Friday asleep and then life happened up until now!

Seungcheol sat on his couch, face glued to his phone. Jihoon was explaining to him the wonders of music composition and why he had decided to make it his major in the first place. Seungcheol’s eyes scanned the paragraphs that were sent to him, trying his hardest to memorize and take in as much as he could.

Texting Jihoon was fun, but he’s never gotten such a response to a topic of conversation before, showing in the amount he sends that Jihoon’s really invested in it. Meaning that Seungcheol was invested in knowing why Jihoon was invested in the topic.

Seungcheol was startled out of his tunnel vision by a tap on his shoulder. He looked over to Soonyoung, who was lounging next to him on Seungcheol’s couch, a pout on his face.

“You know it’s rude to ignore your guests.” Whines Soonyoung.

Seungcheol puts his phone down on the coffee table in front of him, a sheepish smile on his face. He really doesn’t want Jihoon to think he's ignoring him, especially since they are on such an important topic for him, but Soonyoung has a point and he doesn’t want to be rude.

He make a mental note to send a text to Jihoon explaining he has a guest over when Soonyoung wasn’t paying attention.

Soonyoung huffs, crossing his arms in a playful manner at Seungcheol’s face, but soon gives up on acting like he was actually bothered.

“I’m glad to see that you and Jihoon hit it off so well.” Mused Soonyoung.

Seungcheol scratched at the side of his nose, a little bashful at the subject.

“Yeah, me too..” Trailed off Seungcheol. He honestly didn’t think he was going to get this interested in Jihoon. Seungcheol knew that he was only set up on the blind date to get his mind off of Jeonghan. Never did he think that he would actually find someone he was honestly attracted to.

Soonyoung glanced at Seungcheol out of the corner of his eye, seeming to be debating if he should say what he wants to say.

Seungcheol raised an eyebrow at his friend, cuing him that he was curious as to what Soonyoung had to say.

Soonyoung sighed before leaning forward on the couch, looking much more serious then he was just seconds before, unconsciously making Seungcheol nervous as to what was coming next.

“So.. Does this mean that you’re over He Who Ruins Lives?” Asked Soonyoung tentatively.

Seungcheol pursed his lips at the question.

In all honestly, he didn’t know if he was yet. Jeonghan had left such a lasting impression on him. Sure, he knows now that it wasn’t a very good relationship, but it was Seungcheol’s first real one. That kind of thing sticks with you.

He found himself thinking of Jeonghan still, but much less frequently than he did before. And it surprises Seungcheol when he realizes that he never thought of the boy while he was with Jihoon.

Before he met Jihoon, Seungcheol couldn’t help but think that he would probably not find someone else he was interested in, his mind too preoccupied with Jeonghan. He knew that if he did find someone else anytime soon, he would be too busy comparing whoever it was to Jeonghan.

To realize that he hasn’t once done that with Jihoon was a huge positive in Seungcheol’s eyes. Meaning that yes, he is probably getting over the boy.

But his heart still feels sore when ever he is reminded of Jeonghan. The hurt and betrayal is still there, seared into Seungcheol’s heart, making him second guess everything he is doing with Jihoon.

So in a way, Jeonghan is still affecting his budding relationship with Jihoon.

“I- I don’t know.” Replies Seungcheol, looking down at his hands. “I can definitely say that I think of Jeonghan less since. But I still feel something when you bring him up.”

Soonyoung looks over to Seungcheol with what he reads as pity in his eyes. 

Seungcheol knows that Soonyoung is only asking out of concern, but everything is still new with Jihoon and he doesn’t want to screw it up by moving too fast with the boy only to find that he can’t give his whole heart to Jihoon.

“Well,” Soonyoung reaches over and pats Seungcheol’s knee reassuringly, “If you ask me, I really do think you’ve been doing well ever since you two started going on dates.”

Seungcheol glanced over to Soonyoung out of the corner of his eye, a small smile on his lips. “You really think so?”

“Yeah definitely.” Says Soonyoung, no trace of doubt in his voice. “Speaking of which, how long are you guys going to be just dating? It’s obvious to everyone that you guys are really into each other. If I was you, I would have asked him to be my boyfriend by now.”

Seungcheol looks over to Soonyoung, slightly panicked at the idea. Soonyoung must have seen it too.

“Oookay. Maybe no lovey dovey shit yet. You guys have at least kissed by now though, right?”

Seungcheol could feel his face heat up from Soonyoung’s casual words.

Soonyoung’s eyes widen, knowing exactly what Seungcheol’s shyness means.

“Oh my god. You haven’t! What are you waiting for??” Soonyoung was invading Seungcheol private space now, getting in his face.

Seungcheol shoves at Soonyoung’s shoulder, causing the boy to rock back and plop into his original seat on the other side of the couch.

“I’m taking it slow!” Exclaimed Seungcheol, finally able to get an answer out now that Soonyoung wasn’t all up in his business.

“Jihoon has never been in a relationship, I don’t want to scare him by trying to go too fast.” Explains Seungcheol in more detail when he notices Soonyoung’s skeptical face.

He expressly leaves out that the other reason is because he doesn’t know for sure if he’s completely moved on from Jeonghan yet.

He couldn’t put an inexperienced Jihoon through a relationship we wasn’t completely sure he was fully on board for yet.

Soonyoung crosses his arms, not willing to accept Seungcheol’s reasoning that easily.

“This is college for fucks sake, people go and fuck each other on the first date all the time!”

Seungcheol sends him a disgusted face at Soonyoung’s crude words.

“Yeah, well, not everyone’s like you.” Mumbles out Seungcheol as he reaches for his phone, no longer willing to give his full attention to the conversation at hand.

Seungcheol flinched hard to the side from the jab he just received from Soonyoung. “Hey!” Yelled Seungcheol, more surprised then hurt.

“You deserve that.” Pouted Soonyoung.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also would like to apologize for the small chapter, but we are slowly but surely getting around to actually relationship development I swear! 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	9. October 23rd, 2015

Jihoon was starting to really enjoy his Fridays. Before, they were his dedicated work day where he would try and finish as much homework that he could before the weekend.

But as of lately, it has become his and Seungcheol’s date night. This will only be their 3rd date, but Jihoon can already feel a shift of atmosphere between them compared to before.

It might have something to do with texting 24/7, but that was besides the point.

When Jihoon went to both their first and second one, he felt a small sense of dread in his stomach. Jihoon wouldn’t label it as regret, but more towards an uneasy feeling.

He’s never dated anyone, let alone dated _seriously_ before. All these dating customs were lost of him.

The dread he felt stemmed from his inexperience. He related it to the kind of dread you feel when you have to present in front of the class for a grade. When you know that every action you make will be observed and scrutinized, so you have to perform at your best.

Dating was a lot like that. The first date, he tried to stay as casual as possible, unintentionally making Seungcheol feel like Jihoon didn’t want to be there.

Which he did. He just wished that the awkward first steps in dating weren’t so…. awkward.

But by some sort of grace of god, he had made it out the other side of the awkward stage, with potential boyfriend still in tow.

Today, they were meeting at the on campus coffee shop. Jihoon had let it slip sometime during one of their text conversations that he actually enjoyed the coffee here, which lead to Seungcheol asking to accompany him there the next Friday.

Friday has arrived, so Jihoon found himself walking a familiar path from his dorm room to the on campus coffee shop.

The coffee shop didn’t come from an existing chain, instead named after the university. 

If Jihoon remembered correctly, it was actually part of a class for business majors, ran completely by the students. It gave the students an opportunity to see what running a business was like in the real world.

Jihoon was a little skeptical as to how well it would work out, quality wise. But apparently the kids in the class this year knew their stuff. The coffee and atmosphere was exactly what Jihoon would have wanted out of a coffee shop.

When Jihoon got closer, he could see a bundled up Seungcheol standing near the entrance. Jihoon had an off handed thought about how Seungcheol always seemed to beat him to their dates before he walked up to said boy.

Seungcheol greeted him with a bright smile and a side hug. Jihoon was a little stunned by the contact, but actually realized this time around what was happening as compared to the first hug they shared.

Before he could think of reciprocating, Seungcheol was letting go.

“Good afternoon.” Greeted Seungcheol, voice friendly.

“Afternoon.” Replied Jihoon through the scarf he had wrapped around his neck.

They shuffled their way inside before taking up a spot at the end of the line. It wasn’t all too busy, only 2 other students in front of them.

The pair shared small talk as they waited, mainly just questions and answers about classes Seungcheol had earlier or about what Jihoon was doing beforehand.

When it was their turn, Jihoon found himself facing their cashier. Since Jihoon was a regular here, he recognized the boy behind the counter, but he couldn’t recall ever seeing him look this upset before now. Before Jihoon could comment on the fact, the cashier spoke up.

“I don’t appreciate being ignored Seungcheol.” Said the boy moodily.

“Seungkwan! What do you mean by that?”

Jihoon looked between Seungcheol and their cashier, obviously the two knew each other.

“I _mean_ , “Stressed the boy, apparently named Seungkwan. “That I was trying to get your attention since you walked in.” The boy popped his hip to the side, surprising Jihoon with how much more whiny the boy seemed to him after doing so.

“Sorry,” apologized Seungcheol sheepishly. “I didn't even know this was the coffee shop you said you worked at.”

Seungkwan tutted then placed his hand on his popped out hip, now completing the full on sass look that Jihoon knew the stranger had in him.

“I _told_ you so many times where I worked. I’ve even tried to get you to come visit me! But you were always too busy mopping over your break up with Jeonghan that happened like a thousand years ago to come see me.”

Jihoon could almost feel his ears perk at that, 100 percent more interested in the conversation. Jihoon eyed Seungcheol, catching the worried glance he had just sent him before turning his attention back to Seungkwan.

“And here I am! Ready and willing to taste the delicious coffee I’m ready to order.” 

Rushed Seungcheol, obviously not comfortable with the direction the conversation was heading.

All this Seungkwan kid could do was huff before slipping back into cashier mood, who must have realized that he shouldn’t be holding up the line for too long. Jihoon couldn’t help but file away the name ‘Jeonghan’ into his mind, not sure what he was suppose to do with the information he was just given.

But he tried to put it from his mind, not really too bothered by what he just overheard. Plus, he didn’t want to ruin their date by bringing up any baggage too early on.

Jihoon followed close behind Seungcheol as they took a seat at a table close to the drop off spot for their coffees.

They filled the time they waited for their coffees with small talk, nothing committed, but still interesting. Jihoon was finding that almost everything about Seungcheol was interesting to him.

There was just a way to how he answered simple questions, or the fact that he talked with his hands most of the time. Small things here and there that Jihoon would take notice of and find himself smiling over.

Jihoon was interrupted mid sentence by someone walking up to their table, both hands holding a cup of coffee. Jihoon glanced at their visitor, an eyebrow arched in question.

The newcomer had on the coffee shops regulation apron, showing that he worked there, but it was unusual of them to get table side service. Usually they just called off the names for the customers to come pick up.

Before either boy could ask as to why he was here, the worker sat down at their third chair, which caused Jihoon and Seungcheol to exchange surprised looks before returning their attention to their visitor.

The boy seemed perfectly comfortable in his seat, as he turned one cup around in his hand before asking, “Which one of you is ‘Jihoon’?”

Jihoon raised his hand noncommititedly, not sure what he should make out of this situation. The boy then slid his coffee over before doing the same with the other one to Seungcheol. “Then you must be ‘Rude Ass Friend’.”

Jihoon couldn’t help but snicker as Seungcheol indignantly grabbed for his cup, quick to confirm if that was what was really written on his cup.

Now in possession of their coffees, Jihoon was fully expecting the worker to make his leave. When the boy continued to sit, seemingly unaffected by staying with strangers, Jihoon finally asked, “Can we help you with something?”

The boy looked over at him, a neutral expression on his face. He then pursed his lips a bit before answering. “I’m not allowed to return until I find out who ‘Jihoon’ is.”

Both boys seemed to catch on to what was going on at the same time. Seungcheol sighed from his side of his table, before sending a side glance over to his friend behind the counter.

Jihoon uncharacteristically found himself amused at the situation. He’s never really been one for people he didn’t know butting into his life, but there was something about the kid. Maybe it was because of his nonchalance or the fact that the kid seemed to have been forced to come do this against his will. Whatever it was, Jihoon found himself taking pity on him.

Jihoon leaned forward in his chair, placing his elbows on the table before resting his chin on his intertwined fingers. “What’s your name, kid?”

Their newcomer looked over to Jihoon before mimicking what Jihoon had just done with his hands, leaning his chin comfortably onto his own. “It’s Vernon.”

“No it’s not! It’s Hansol!” Yelled a voice from not too far away. When Jihoon turned his head to Seungkwan, he was only mildly surprised to see the boy acting like he wasn’t just eavesdropping on their conversation. The boy was standing only a few feet away from their table, ‘busy’ wiping down the counter.

Jihoon turned back to his table, seeing that both of the other boys had a look of disdain on their face. Seungcheol’s because of his eavesdropping friend, Vernon’s because Seungkwan had just outed him on his name. Jihoon tried to hide the small smile that was creeping onto his face behind his hand.

“Okay, _Vernon._ ” Started Seungcheol, “I’m sorry that Seungkwan blackmailed you into doing this, but if _Seungkwan came and asked like a normal person_ , then none of this would have been necessary.” Seungcheol looked over to Seungkwan when he was done talking, making it obvious that he wasn’t directing his sentence to Vernon, but to Seungkwan.

Vernon looked between Seungkwan and Seungcheol, only looking mildly confused. Seungkwan huffed before turning his back to the three, but didn’t move from his spot, not wanting to give up his ability to eavesdrop so easily.

“Seungkwan didn’t blackmail me.” Confessed Vernon.

Seungcheol looked at the boy, confused. “Then why are you here?”

Vernon's expression changed to one of concentration as he slid his elbows on the table to have his whole body leaning towards Seungcheol, who involuntarily leaned away.

“Seungkwan told me you rap.” Loudly whispered Vernon, as if he had a secret he didn’t want the rest of the coffee shop to know. And apparently it _was_ a secret, for Seungcheol froze in his spot, seemingly too shocked from Vernon’s words to go on with life.

Jihoon couldn’t help the full blown smile that was on his face now. “Oh, _do you now?_ ” Asked Jihoon, who was all too amused with this new bit of information.

“I, too, rap.” Continued Vernon, oblivious to the fact that Seungcheol’s soul had left his body. “Vernon is actually my rapper name, but also my middle name, so I’m trying to get people to call me by it. But anyways, I was hoping maybe we could maybe meet up sometime and excha-”

Vernon, or Hansol, was cut off but Seungcheol’s chair scraping across the floor as Seungcheol suddenly stood up.

Jihoon was now only barely containing his snickers as he watched Seungcheol take Vernon by the elbow and bring the boy to a standing position before lightly pushing the boy away from their table.

“Well! It’s been fun talking with you Vernon. A real blast. But I’m actually here on a date with Jihoon, and if you wouldn’t mind, I would enjoy being able to spend some quality _alone_ time with him.” Rambled Seungcheol, all the while pulling a confused Vernon with him.

Their small scene had easily caught the attention of Seungkwan, who abandoned his post as he approached Seungcheol and Vernon.

“OH! Date?!” Exclaimed an excited Seungkwan. His excited look didn’t last long though, quickly changing to skepticism. “When have you been dating someone?”

“What do you mean? _You_ helped be get ready for my first date with Jihoon, how could you forget?” Asked Seungcheol indignantly.

Seungkwan crossed his arms, now pouting a bit. “How am I expected to remember who or if you’re dating if you can’t be bothered to remember where I even work?”

Seungcheol let out a deep sigh at his friend. The small silence that had fallen between the two friends was then broken by Vernon, who was still in the clutches of Seungcheol.

“You know, he kinda has a point there.”

Jihoon felt himself smile from his spot at the table. He couldn’t help but think that his life was getting a lot more exciting now that he had met Seungcheol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Introducing new seventeen members is fun. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! <3


	10. October 26th, 2015

“Wow, Jihoon. I can’t believe you’ve of all people have started dating.” Said Minghao in awe, who was tightly clutching a pillow to his chest.

Jihoon wasn’t sure how it always seemed like he was talking about his not quite there relationship with people. Sure, he's never actually been in a relationship before, so maybe it was the shock factor that was gaining everyone's interest.

Jihoon was laying on his bed, therapist style, fingers intertwined and placed on his stomach. He had just finished retelling everything from his first date to the present to Minghao, who was Junhui’s (only) friend.

Minghao didn’t visit their dorm very often. Junhui seemed to prefer going to Minghaos when they hung out, which was a house just off campus that him and a few other boys from their college rented together.

Jihoon didn’t know the full story behind how such a sweet boy came to be friends with a sneak like Junhui. Jihoon vaguely recalls something along the lines of Junhui saying they met in a class and bonded over the fact that they both were from China. But Jihoon couldn’t be sure.

Just one day Minghao showed up and Jihoon didn’t really question it, since it wasn’t his friend to watch over.

Jihoon found himself slightly babying Minghao when he came around. Maybe it was the innocent vibe the boy gave off, but he felt himself inclined to offer food or let the boy have his way when he was around. So when Junhui let slip that Jihoon had been going on dates, Minghao insisted that Jihoon tell him all about his and Seungcheol’s relationship. And Jihoon could never really find himself saying no to Minghao.

Jihoon would be naive to think that it was a simple accident that Junhui let that fact slip while Minghao was around. Jihoon was suspicious, formulating a theory that Junhui enjoyed watching Jihoon suffer in small amounts. (Like letting Wonwoo in whenever he came over to name an example)

So this is how we find Jihoon laying on his bed, a sparkly eyed Minghao sitting cross legged next to him, retelling the stories of his dates.

Minghao hugged the pillow closer to his chest as a dreamy sigh left his lips. “I want to meet your boyfriend, he sounds nice.” Comments Minghao when Jihoon finished.

Jihoon squints at the ceiling. Almost simultaneously both Jihoon and Junhui speak up.

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“They aren’t boyfriends.”

Minghao blinks for a few seconds before Jihoon’s world turns black as the pillow Minghao was holding smothers his face.

“What do you mean you aren’t boyfriends?!” Yells Minghao, all the while hitting Jihoon repeatedly with the pillow.

“Hey! Sto- Stop it Minghao!” Yells back Jihoon, trying to catch the pillow every time Minghao brings it down on the downswing.

Junhui speaks up from where he’s been on his bed, a safe distance away.

“I think they have been doing the whole, ‘I’m dating you and we are pretty much exclusive and pretty much boyfriends’ thing for about 2 weeks now but haven’t actually said anything about making it official.”

Minghao stops his attack after Junhui’s explanation. He flicks his gaze between Junhui and Jihoon, who was now sitting up and backing away from Minghao.

“You basically just described to me a boyfriend Jihoon. How are you guys not boyfriends?” Asks Minghao, who was back to cuddling the pillow to his chest.

Jihoon slips off the bed and sits down in his desk chair, deeming this a safe distance away before he tried to explain the situation to Minghao.

The situation being that he had no clue as to what was really happening. This is where Jihoon's inexperience really showed. He wasn’t even completely sure what was happening the first time they went on a date. But now that Minghao was saying something, it was starting to get Jihoon thinking.

 _Were_ they boyfriends? Was it one of those things that go unspoken? He has only actually hung out with Seungcheol 3 times, but they have been talking almost non stop, so it didn’t feel like it has only been a handful of times that him and Seungcheol have actually physically been together.

There was something about Seungcheol that made him feel comfortable to be around. 

He often forgot that he should probably be trying to come off as less brash or try not to annoy the boy, but it seemed like Seungcheol liked Jihoon for just how he was.

Jihoon's thoughts were interrupted by Minghao.

“Wait. Have you guys even kissed?”

Jihoon just shook his head, because no, they haven’t yet.

“Oh my god…” Whispered out Minghao. “Is he. A _prude?_ ” Asked Minghao, like that was the worst thing someone could be.

All Jihoon could do was frown, not able to give Minghao a real answer to that. He honestly had no idea. It’s not like Seungcheol has given him any reason to think he doesn’t like sexual activity, but it wasn’t like he had given any hints to him being _for_ it either.

“I don’t… think so?” Answered back Jihoon.

Minghao let out a groan of frustration before flopping back onto Jihoon’s bed.

“Can you believe this Junhui? He doesn’t know if the boy he wants to date even wants to kiss him.” Lamented Minghao to Junhui, who was just shaking his head in disbelief, humoring his friend by joining in.

Minghao turned his attention back to Jihoon before sending him a beckoning gesture.

“Get back over here so I can hit you again.”

Jihoon frowned at the thought of actually complying with that request.

But now that Jihoon was thinking about it, why didn’t he know any of these things?

Sure, they have been talking regularly, but they never brought up anything actually personal in the sense of sexuality while they talked.

Sure, there was Seungcheol’s light banter where he would call Jihoon cute or something equally as similar, but that didn’t mean he was sexually attracted to Jihoon.

Jihoon had automatically assumed Seungcheol was gay, since they were set up on a date together, but that didn’t mean that Seungcheol was sexually attracted to _Jihoon._

Was that why Seungcheol hadn’t brought up the idea of them taking the next step in their relationship? Did Jihoon somehow find himself friend zoned somewhere along the lines of their dates?

A feeling of nervousness stirred in his stomach, something Jihoon hadn’t felt for a while since he started to go on dates with Seungcheol. Ever since they started to talk regularly, Jihoon had felt comfortable with their relationship, not questioning much and just letting things flow.

But maybe that was Jihoon downfall. Maybe Seungcheol had somewhere along the way realized that he wasn’t interested in Jihoon in a relationship way, neither sexual or romantically. Maybe that was why Seungcheol has kept any and all conversation between them on a friendship level in terms of topics.

Jihoon tried to compile a quick list of main things they talk about (School, homework, friends, the occasional family topic) and realized they were all things friends talked about.

They had been talking like friends this whole time, and not like potential boyfriends.

At that moment, Jihoon heard his text tone go off. Jihoon knew it was Seungcheol, since it was the tone that Seungcheol had assigned to his contact when they were on their coffee ‘date’. Jihoon tried to decipher if changing your text tone was something boyfriends do or something that was also done between friends.

Jihoon remembered Mingyu tried to do the exact same thing way back in high school, but Jihoon hadn’t let him at the time.

“I think you broke him Minghao.” Came Junhui’s voice. When Jihoon looked up, he could see Junhui’s questioning gaze along with Minghaos concerned one.

“Jihoon.. Like I said. What you’ve been doing up till now seems like boyfriend behavior to me.” Consoles Minghao, who somehow seemed to be able to read Jihoon’s mind. “I wouldn't take him not asking about being boyfriends or kissing as a bad sign. But if it bothers you, I would just ask him about it. Communication is key!”

Jihoon pursed his lips and did the exact opposite of what Minghao just suggested, and purposely left his phone on its charger next to his bed, leaving Seungcheol’s text unanswered.


	11. October 28th, 2015

Seungcheol stared at his phone dejectedly. It has been about 42 hours, if Seungcheol’s math is correct, since Jihoon had texted.

Seungcheol was currently debating whether or not it would be a good idea to try and text him again. His last one had gone unanswered.

Of course Seungcheol understood that Jihoon was probably busy with his life, but he had usually made it a point to reply to Seungcheol when ever he was done with whatever it was that had caused him to delay a reply in the first place.

But it had never took more then maybe 12 hours for Jihoon to get back to him, and that included the hours Jihoon was probably sleeping after he decided to put their conversation on hold to finish studying or go through class uninterrupted.

Seungcheol looked around his classroom, just now noticing that other students were packing up their things. The teacher had apparently dismissed class while Seungcheol was busy in his mind.

He then pocketed his phone before going to pack his things too. Since it was Wednesday, he knew that he was probably going to get a visit from Seokmin sometime after the boy was done with his classes for the day.

Seokmin lived on campus, but rarely liked to stay in his dorm room more than necessary, thanks to his eccentric roommate this year. Seungcheol questioned him about it before, but Seokmin just explained that his roommate liked to ‘mix science and art’, thus causing their room to be in a mess the majority of the time. Nor did Seokmin like to be around for when “The science decides to become art.” Quoted Seokmin to Seungcheol.

The roommate sounded like quite a hassle, so Seungcheol had no qualms with Seokmin coming over as often as he felt necessary.

Seungcheol had just finished his last class of the day, so he headed in the direction of where he parked his car after packing up all of his belongings, ready to head home for the day.

Sometime during the walk, Seungcheol’s mind wandered back to the pink haired boy in question. His mind was jumping to the worst case scenario, being that Jihoon had finally come to his senses and realized that Seungcheol wasn’t worth the trouble of dating.

He bit his lip at the thought. Was him being slow in the uptake the wrong course of action? He thought that giving Jihoon time to process everything and to take things in their relationship slow would have been best route. Maybe that caused Jihoon to become bored and move on? Maybe not moving faster had been his downfall.

Seungcheol couldn’t help but think that that couldn’t be the case though. Jihoon had yet to even reciprocate a hug from Seungcheol, meaning that if he wanted to move faster, he probably would have at least hugged him back.

Seungcheol didn’t mind Jihoon not initiating any physical contact though. He was a firm believer in taking things slow and letting physical things such as hugs and kisses to come naturally.

But Seungcheol would be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about doing more than just hugging. Seungcheol had been left with quite a nice dream after his talk with Soonyoung about going farther with Jihoon, thus putting some pretty pictures in his mind about how it would actually be like to kiss Jihoon.

But Seungcheol was adamant about putting his hormones to the side for Jihoons sake. But maybe that might have all been for nothing, now that Jihoon wasn’t texting him back.

Seungcheol was hit hard by his next thought, almost causing him to physically stumble on his walk back to his car.

What if Jihoon no longer wanted anything to do with Seungcheol because he was _boring?_ It wasn't too far fetched of an idea to Seungcheol’s already over worked mind. If it was enough of a reason for Jeonghan to break up with him after a long relationship, it definitely was enough of a reason for someone who wasn't even in a relationship with him yet.

A very small part in the back of his mind was nagging him, reminding him that he was over reacting. That Seungcheol didn’t know that Jihoon had stopped messaging him because he was bored of Seungcheol. The only thing that has really happened was that they haven't talked in awhile. Which was only a slightly odd occurrence since they had been constantly texting ever since they started.

But Jihoon had no connections to Seungcheol besides Soonyoung. If Jihoon wanted out of Seungcheol’s life, it would be easy to do so. Just do exactly what he was doing now, and stop talking to him. It wasn’t like their schedules ever overlapped and they had no mutual events they went together which would cause them to casually bump into each other. If Jihoon wanted out, there was nothing Seungcheol could do about it. They weren’t even technically anything more than friends.

With no physical or emotional attachment, the texts had been the only line they had to each other, which was now dangerously close to being severed. And with that thought, Seungcheol could start to feel panic form and bubble up his throat.

But before Seungcheol could actually let the panic of that idea set in, he had arrived to his car. Grateful for the small interruption that his mind needed, as he set to getting in and driving to his apartment.

Seungcheol just hoped that Seokmin would show up soon, this small distraction wasn’t going to last long.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seungcheol was laying on his back on his couch when Seokmin _finally_ decided to grace him with his presence.

Seungcheol had been staring off into space, waiting for Seokmin to arrive. He had tried to distract himself from his self destructive thoughts with video games and the internet, all proven to be great distractions in the past, only to still find himself slipping back to Jihoon.

Seungcheol was in desperate need of a second opinion.

“Seokmin.” Said Seungcheol neutrally from his position on his couch.

Seokmin had been busy making himself at home, like putting his jacket away and taking off his shoes, when he heard Seungcheol’s beckoning.

“What’s up?” Asked Seokmin as he walked over to the lying Seungcheol.

When Seokmin came within reaching distance, Seungcheol reached out with his hand to grip Seokmin’s hand weakly. Seokmin raised his eyebrow at Seungcheol, already looking weary of what was coming next.

“One of my dearest friends. I’m in dire need of your assistance.” Continued Seungcheol in a soft voice.

Seokmin only rolled his eyes at Seungcheol’s antics. “Why do you always have to be so dramatic when it’s only me? You never do this kind of stuff when Soonyoung or Seungkwan are around.” Asked Seokmin rhetorically, knowing he wasn’t actually going to get a real answer out of it.

Seokmin then pulled his hand out of Seungcheol’s weak grasp before pushing his legs off the couch, making room so he could sit on the couch.

“And what is it today that you need my assistance with?” Asked Seokmin dryly, only playing along for the sake of playing along.

“I think Jihoon is done with me.” Explained Seungcheol, not beating around the bush.

But Seokmin looked unfazed by Seungcheols bold proclamation. If anything, he looked bored, too use to Seungcheol’s tendency to over dramatize things.

“Can we get dinner before we go into your texts and spend the next 30 minutes having me convince you that you’re wrong?” Asked Seokmin, whose voice finally found a little life from the idea of food.

Seungcheol just shook his head gravely. “I’m afraid I won’t keep anything down.”

Seokmin slumped into the couch, dejected that food was put on hold, but motioned for Seungcheol to start. “Well, get on with it then. Why do you think Jihoon is done with you.”

Seungcheol sighed deeply before resituating so that he was now sitting on the couch cross legged facing Seokmin, now in a much better position to explain everything that had been going on in his head.

“Jihoon hasn’t text me back. I know you’re going to be like, ‘Well, how long has it been?’ So I’m going to let you know that it has now been 45 hours since the last text had been exchanged.” Started Seungcheol, talking wildly with his hands as Seokmin watched him with a bored expression.

“So, my first thought is, ‘Maybe he’s just really busy?’ But then I counter that thought with examples of him either letting me know beforehand that he’s going to be busy for a little bit or texting me right afterwards which has not taken more than 12 hours for him to do in the past.”

Seungcheol looks over to Seokmin, maybe for some input before he further lays out his case.

“So far, all I’ve gotten out of this is that you’re kinda creepy with how you keep track of the times between things so precisely.” Replied Seokmin to Seungcheol’s look.

Seungcheol ignores Seokmin to continue.

“So. My next thoughts are, ‘Well, maybe he’s waiting on you to message again?’ But then I think. ‘What if you just end up bothering him because this is him trying to signal that he’s tired of you.’ So here I am, trying to figure out if this is a sign from him saying that I should just stop talking to him.” Finished Seungcheol.

He was kinda impressed with how little it took to explain what he was worried about. It felt like so much more when he was mulling over everything in his head.

Sometime during Seungcheol’s speech, Seokmin had dropped his bored act to actually take in what his friend was saying to him. So Seokmin leaned forward a little bit towards Seungcheol before asking, “So I take it that you haven’t texted him and _asked_ if he doesn't want to talk any more?”

Seungcheol frowned at that. “Of course not. Why would I ask him that?” Questioned back Seungcheol.

Seokmin shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe because that’s actually what you’re worried about?”

“Yeah, but I can’t just ask him forwardly! What if it really is that he’s just really busy and then he thinks i'm being a clingy weirdo by asking him about it?”

Seungcheol could see it now, a fake Jihoon in his mind's eye scoffing at Seungcheol clinginess as he turns dramatically away into the blackness that laid away from Seungcheol, leaving Seungcheol to cry into the floor.

Seungcheol squinted at his own scene his imagination just conjured. Maybe he should work on being a little less over dramatic.

Seokmin looked over to Seungcheol, a glint of something in his eye. It looked as if Seokmin was looking beyond what Seungcheol was telling him to put together more from the information Seungcheol had given him to make more conclusions than necessary.

Which was apparently exactly what he was doing, because Seokmin crossed his arms over his waist and looked over to Seungcheol, a very serious look in his eye.

“Let me ask you this. Why haven’t you asked Jihoon to be your boyfriend yet?”

Seungcheol felt himself prickle a little bit at the idea. But he had no idea why Seokmin would bring that up right now. “What do you mean? That’s not even an option any more if Jihoon has decided that he no longer wants anything to do with me…” Trailed off Seungcheol.

But Seokmin pressed his lips, seemingly a little disappointed in Seungcheol’s answer.

“Are you kidding me? This is literally not even a problem. I can almost guarantee you that if you text Jihoon, you guys will go back to your usual constant chatting. What I see from this though is that you actually _care_ if Jihoon wanted to stop texting you. Meaning, you want him to be something to you. Which then leads me to ask, why haven’t you asked him to be your boyfriend yet? You obviously care a lot about him.”

Seungcheol had to pause and think about that. Sure, he talked to Soonyoung a little bit about this before. He didn’t want to rush anything. But it’s been a few weeks, and if Seungcheol actually looked at Jihoon’s behavior unbiasedly, he would say that Jihoon was definitely interested too. So the excuse of taking it slow was starting to get old fast.

But then that left the only other reason being Jeonghan. He had yet to admit to anyone but himself that he didn’t know if he could care about anyone as much as he had Jeonghan, which is another big reason as to why he hadn’t taken the next step with Jihoon.

But. Just like Seokmin said. Seungcheol obviously cared about Jihoon. He wanted Jihoon to be _more_ then some guy that he really enjoyed talking to. More than someone who could easily fall out of his life without leaving a trace that he had been there to begin with.

And he found himself thinking that he wanted to leave an impression in Jihoon’s life too.

Seokmin seemed to realize that Seungcheol’s gears were starting to move. He patted Seungcheol’s knee reassuringly before standing up and going to his coat to fetch his abandoned cell phone from the pocket.

“While you’re busy sorting everything out, I’m going to order some food. Soonyoung said something about wanting to come over after he was done with his club, so I’ll order extra.” Explained Seokmin offhandedly.

Seungcheol watched as Seokmin walked to the kitchen, looking through his endless list of take out places he probably had in his address book.

Seungcheol resituated in his spot on the couch. Even though their talk had been brief, Seungcheol felt like he found a lot of clarity from it. It was almost like Seokmin had figured out that Seungcheol’s worries were stemming from something deeper, and pulled that out and exposed it, even though Seungcheol himself didn’t know there was even anything deeper to look at and analyze.

And with the realization came a seemingly lighter feeling inside of Seungcheol. As if the clarity of figuring out what he really wanted had lifted some invisible weight off of him.

Earlier turmoil forgotten, Seungcheol reached for his phone with a goal in mind.

_’Hey, would you like to meet up someplace tomorrow?’_

He wanted to be Jihoon’s boyfriend, his small remnants of feelings for Jeonghan be damned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? Another chapter so soon? A miracle that has been bestowed onto me in the form of work being crazy slow thus giving me plenty of time too write. 
> 
> Also, not fully confident in this chapter but whatevs..
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! <3
> 
> P.S. Props to anyone who has any idea to who Seokmins roommate is. I have no idea if he'll ever actually show up again, but if someone guesses correctly, I'll let them know!


	12. October 29th, 2015

Soonyoung plopped down into Seungcheol’s couch, almost dropping the bag of chips he was carrying from the force of the bounce. After regaining a firm grip on the bag, he placed the bag onto the coffee table, an equal distance between him and Seokmin so both could reach in and grab at ease.

Which Seokmin took full advantage of, as he reached with one hand, his other occupied with setting up Seungcheol’s game system. Apparently trying to work the controller with only one hand was a bad idea, since it has almost fell out of his grasp twice now. Before Soonyoung could reach over and steal the player one controller, Seokmin gave up on multitasking and wiped his chip dust covered fingers on his pants before continuing what he was doing.

It was Thursday and neither Seokmin nor Soonyoung had classes until later in the day. The two had dubbed Thursday's their video game day over at Seungcheol’s ever since the semester started. Unfortunately, Seungcheol wasn’t going to join them till later after he was done with his morning classes.

Soonyoung reached across the table for the player two controller before turning it on. When Seokmin finally made it to the games character select screen, Soonyoung started up what he had been meaning to talk with Seokmin about.

Soonyoung clicked over to Wonder Woman and selected her when he asked, “So do you know much about what's going on between Seungcheol and Jihoon?” He kept it vague purposely, wanting to fish around and see if Seungcheol has ended up telling more to Seokmin then to Soonyoung.

Seokmin was busy flicking his cursor between AquaMan and Batman, indecisive to who he wanted to pick. Seokmin hummed a little before answering. “Not really. He was whining to me about how he thought Jihoon no longer wanted anything to do with him for a little bit. But that obviously passed. You saw how he was glued to his phone last night.”

Seokmin continued to flick between the two characters while he talked. Soonyoung was done waiting on Seokmin to choose, so he reached out and smacked his hand down onto Seokmin’s controller, trying to hit the x button. Unfortunately, he ended up hitting the wrong one and they were sent back to the main menu. Seokmin easily went back to the character select page, but kept his controller far from Soonyoung’s reach as he started to flick between Batman and the Flash.

Seokmin settled on Batman, then pressed start so they could finally start fighting.

Character voices and action sounds resounded from the TV as Soonyoung continued talking. “Wait, so Seungcheol didn’t think Jihoon liked him anymore?” Asked Soonyoung, eyes glued to the TV.

“Yeah. I think he said something about how Jihoon had stopped texting for a day so he thought Jihoon was over him.”

Soonyoung snorted at the thought of Jihoon being over Seungcheol so suddenly. In fact, this is the most Soonyoung has ever seen Jihoon take interest in anything besides school work and club. (which is still school in a way)

Soonyoung didn’t know Jihoon much more than what he’s been able to gather from their weekly dance club meetings, but it was enough to put together that Jihoon didn’t have much of a life outside of school.

Soonyoung let out a whoop when Wonder Woman landed the finishing blow on Batman, declaring him the winner. Seokmin grumbled something along the lines of powerful amazons as they were taken back to the character select screen.

Soonyoung remembered something from yesterday that got him wondering. “Hey, when did Seungcheol talk to you about being ignored by Jihoon?” Asked Soonyoung has he went and clicked on Wonder Woman again. She was his main.

Seokmin went and clicked on Green Arrow this time around, starting their next match much faster than the first one.

“It was yesterday before you showed up. He must have texted Jihoon after our talk.” Replied Seokmin easily.

And with that, Soonyoung’s suspicion was confirmed. Lowly, Soonyoung muttered to himself, “That makes sense.” As he focused on avoiding Seokmin’s attacks.

“What makes sense?” Asked Seokmin as he quickly reached for a handful of chips, trying to stuff them all in his mouth all the while trying to fend off Soonyoung’s attacks.

“It’s just that Jihoon kept glancing at his phone the whole time in dance club. But it didn’t look like he was doing anything with it, just looking at it. I remember thinking it was strange since he always put his phone away during club time.” Explained Soonyoung, still immersed in the fight.

Seokmin seemed to have come to the same conclusion that Soonyoung had, as he let out an understanding hum. Jihoon must have been either debating if he should text or was waiting on Seungcheol to do so.

Many more rounds passed, with Soonyoung taking most of the wins. But that was the usual. One of Soonyoung’s favorite things about playing video games with Seokmin was how much a good sport he was when it came to losing.

Seokmin reached for more chips after putting his controller down, indicating that he was done. “One day i’ll get good enough at this game to beat you.” Lamented Seokmin before stuffing his face with the chips he just grabbed.

Soonyoung leaned back into the couch, propping one of his ankles up on his other thigh before crossing him arms behind his head, showing off how proud he was. “Alright Seokmin, and I’m suddenly going to sprout wings.” Countered Soonyoung. Even with Seokmin’s good sportsmanship, he was still inclined to rub it in a little bit.

Seokmin just shook his head while rolling his eyes before reaching over to check the time off his phone. It must have been later than Soonyoung initially thought, since the next thing Seokmin said was, “I wonder why Seungcheol isn’t home yet.”

Soonyoung raised his eyebrow in question. Seokmin tilted his phone so Soonyoung could read the ‘6:13’ off of it.

Soonyoung pursed his lips in worry. “Message him?”

Seungcheol’s last class gets out at 4 and Seokmin and Soonyoung had a class together at 8. Usually, Seungcheol joins them at his place no later than 5, so they can chill for a little bit before the two left for the night.

Seokmin typed up a quick message before looking at Soonyoung, trying to keep the worry out of his eyes. “Maybe he and Jihoon met up or something?” Inquired Seokmin, trying to throw out any excuse he could think of to explain their friends absence.

“Yeah, maybe.. But haven’t they only been meeting up on Fridays?” Questioned back Soonyoung. He was hopeful that there was a simple explanation, even though Seungcheol was usually good about letting them know if there was a change to their usual plans.

Before Seokmin could say anything in response, his phone went off. Soonyoung leaned over Seokmin’s shoulder so he could read the text himself.

_’Sorry! Forgot to tell you guys that I planned on meeting up with Jihoon after class! You can go ahead and start dinner without me.’_

Soonyoung felt himself let out a small sigh of relief. Now that they knew that Seungcheol didn’t die on the way home or something equally as tragic, Soonyoung could feel slight annoyance settle in.

“What the heck. He’s ditching us now?” Soonyoung slumped back onto the couch as he crossed his arms in front of him. “And now we gotta make dinner by ourselves.”

Soonyoung looked over to Seokmin curiously when he didn’t respond with his own complaints. Soonyoung watched as Seokmin typed out a response before standing up and heading for the kitchen, apparently ready to make dinner now.

Soonyoung noted the small smile on Seokmin’s lips. “Hey, why are you happy?”

Seokmin looked at him from the entrance of the kitchen before beckoning him. 

Soonyoung just raised his eyebrow at him as he followed Seokmin into the kitchen.

Seokmin was leaning into the fridge, probably taking stock of what they could make with the limited amount of groceries, before finally answering. “Don’t you think this is a good thing though?”

Soonyoung hopped his butt onto the counter, more comfortable in that spot then actually helping with food prep. “How so?”

Seokmin shrugged. “Maybe because the last time he was like this, it was when he was dating Jeonghan? Meaning that he might actually be starting to get over him and to greener pastures. Or would that be pinker pastures?” Seokmin mumbled out the last part as he ditched the fridge to go check the pantry.

Soonyoung watched as Seokmin made his way around the kitchen, preparing food for both of them. He really didn’t have an answer for him, but what he said was true. Their plan of making Seungcheol happier with a new boyfriend was starting to work.

Once everything was done, it was nearing 7pm, meaning they were going to have to depart soon. After everything was eaten and put away, the two boys gathered their stuff before starting to head out.

While Seokmin was locking the door behind them, Soonyoung spoke up. “I think we should plan to have a group hangout with Jihoon soon.”

Seokmin smiled at Soonyoung as they started to walk out to Soonyoung’s car.

“Yeah, I think we should. It’s unfair that you’re the only one who has actually met him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The game I had in mind while writing this was Injustice, because I have actually played that game and have a little knowledge on it plus it was basic enough to describe… 
> 
> Also mainly just more set up! 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	13. October 29th, 2015

Junhui sat with Minghao at their usual library desk, boredly flipping through his psychology textbook. Thursdays were always Junhui’s most boring days. He only had one morning class, then he was done for the day.

He was glad that Minghao had a few hours break between their class together in the morning and the rest later on in that day, meaning they can hang out a little bit before Minghao left Junhui to entertain himself for the rest of the day. (Which meant going back to the dorm to mess with Jihoon).

Minghao sat opposite of him, seemingly wanting to actually get some homework done between classes. But Junhui wasn’t going to have any of that. Contrary to what it looked like, with all of Junhui’s earlier class supplies spread out in front of him, he had no plans of actually getting work done. Which meant that neither was Minghao.

Junhui leaned his head down and rested his chin onto the table surface before reaching over to place his hand onto Minghao's notebook, blocking the blonde from continuing the sentence that he was writing.

Minghao looked up to Junhui, face neutral. He waited for Junhui to speak up, since he obviously wanted Minghao's attention.

“I’m bored. Talk to me.” Explained Junhui as he pulled his hand back to a more comfortable position in his lap.

Minghao looked back down to his notebook before finishing what he had been writing. “What do you want to talk about?”

Junhui just shrugged, which was painfully awkward to do from his position with his chin down and back horribly hunched over.

Minghao put his pencil down before closing his notebook, knowing full well that if Junhui wanted attention, he was going to get it one way or another. It was just delaying the inevitable if he tried to continue working.

“I actually have something I want to ask you about.” Spoke up Minghao as he started to pack some of his stuff away into his backpack.

Junhui unscrunched from his spot, showing that he was listening.

Minghao sent a casual glance to Junhui before looking back at what he was doing. “What’s your opinion on Jihoon and his new boyfriend?”

That caught Junhui by surprise. Minghao's interest sent off small warning signals in his brain. If Minghao was interested in Jihoon’s relationship, that could only lead to trouble.

The thing about Minghao that kept Junhui entertained was his unpredictability. To many, who only looked on the surface, they saw a kind hearted boy who seemed to find happiness in the simple things. But Junhui knew that was just a facade.

Well, maybe facade wasn’t the right word, but more of a side to his personality. Minghao had a very complex personality, one of the most complex ones that Junhui had come across.

And the unpredictability of his personality was actually one of his defining personality traits. Most people just didn’t either know or care enough to realize it when it came to Minghao.

But luckily for both of them, Junhui had seen it. Witnessed it many times when they were partners in a required science class they had together.

It was Junhui and Minghao’s freshman year and Minghao had been newly arrived to Korea. He was diligent in learning Korean, but was still new at it and had a hard time holding full conversations. The teacher ended up volunteering Junhui to be his personal translator, since he was the only other student in the class who also knew Mandarin.

Junhui was neither reluctant nor excited to be the kids personal buddy for the rest of the semester. He figured that the boy would get better at Korean as time went on, so he would probably have to help less and less over the duration of the semester.

Over the time the two were paired up together, Junhui learned many small details about Minghao. Like how he had come to Korea with a childhood friend named Jackson, who apparently traveled a lot between China and Korea as a kid. He came up with him to have a new experience, away from his parents. Minghao and his friend ended up renting a house off campus together with a few of Jackson’s other friends, which they still live together in to this day.

Junhui wasn’t too invested in learning much about Minghao, but at least their conversations didn’t bore him to death.

It wasn’t until about a month or 2 into their class together that Junhui finally got a glimpse at Minghao's deeper, more complex personality.

Junhui was waiting at his desk for class to start. His usual desk was pretty close to the front of the class, meaning he was within ear shot when Minghao approached their teacher about the due date on a project they had been working on in the class for about 2 weeks now. It was due at the end of the week, and Junhui had been busting his ass trying to get it done in time.

Junhui overheard Minghao explain to the teacher in broken Korean that he was having trouble understanding all the words on the packet sized worksheets they had been given to complete the project with. When the teacher asked why he hadn’t brought up this issue sooner, Minghao explained that he was trying hard to learn Korean as fast as possible, and thought he was at a level where he could figure out everything on his own.

After a few more exchanged sentences, Minghao was granted an extended due date, giving him more time to ‘figure out and fully understand what the project entailed’.

When Minghao was done, he bowed politely, then excused himself. When Minghao made it to his usual seat next to Junhui, he was a buzz with questions, but Junhui just cut to the chase.

“Why did you lie to the teacher about your reading abilities?” Asked Junhui straightforwardly.

Junhui had hoped that Minghao would catch onto Korean fast when they were first paired together, which ended up happening much sooner than even Junhui had expected.

After the first month, Minghao had limited his questions about words written or said to about once every few days. He was even able to hold comfortable conversation with Junhui in Korean now, which was what caught Junhui’s attention in the first place to Minghao’s exchange with the teacher. He knew that Minghao knew much more than the broken Korean he had used with the teacher.

Minghao dropped his notebook in shock of Junhui’s blunt question. He scrambled to pick up the book from the floor before sheepishly replying, “Oh, you heard that?”

Junhui stared over at Minghao, who wouldn’t meet his eyes as he set up for the class.

“Cut the bullshit Minghao, I’m not going to tell on you. If I could figure out a way to get an extension on the project too, I would..” Trailed off Junhui.

Minghao seemed to relax at Junhui’s words, his shoulders visibly falling. When Minghao had everything out and laid out, Junhui decided that he wanted to play his favorite game and quickly guessed as to what Minghao was going to do next.

Junhui fully expected Minghao to laugh it off, maybe even try and change the subject. Smile a small smile at being outed by Junhui, but try to deflect away from that fact that he just lied to an authority figure.

Minghao was very kind from what Junhui saw, and the act of lying to a teacher seemed like something he would only do in extreme cases, meaning Minghao would want to drop the fact that he did as soon as possible.

And for the duration of time Junhui had known Minghao, he learned that Minghao was the type to avoid conflict or steer clear of any and all rule breakers. To see Minghao blatantly lie and use his earlier struggle with Korean to bullshit an extended deadline from the teacher was definitely something Junhui wouldn’t have thought Minghao capable of trying, let alone get away with.

But when Minghao finally turned and met Junhui’s gaze, it wasn’t the look Junhui had been expecting. The usual warmhearted eyes and smile were distinctly missing. What Junhui saw was a sharp gaze and a knowing smirk.

Junhui almost wanted to call bullshit on this sudden personality change in Minghao but Junhui got the distinct feeling this wasn’t a mask. He could tell that this wasn’t just some prowess that Minghao was trying to pull on Junhui, maybe as a way to distract from the lie and deceit that he had just pulled off flawlessly.

“I don’t see why you couldn’t too Junhui, it’s not so hard.”

Minghao looked away then, ready to start class.

Junhui felt his chest burn, alerting him to the fact that it had been a while since his last breath. He breathed in deep, but silently, not wanting Minghao to know how impacted Junhui had been from that exchange.

Junhui got the feeling that Minghao hadn’t been talking about getting a project extension.

Minghao was finally showing his hand, something Junhui didn’t even realize was something that even needed to happen. Not only had Junhui been fooled by Minghao’s earlier facade in personality, he had been fooled into believe that it was all that Minghao had been about. That his innocent personality he mainly showed was only a ruse, something he could use to his advantage, since no one thought an innocent like Minghao would ever lie.

Junhui has since learned that Minghao's full personality was just like curtains, where he would pull forward a certain one when necessary. Defaultly, Minghao had his innocent and childlike personality to the public.

At the time, Junhui got the distinct feeling that he had just glimpsed something very interesting.

It was then that Junhui set his goal to see any and all sides to Minghao’s personalities, which grew to them becoming such close friends.

Which brought them back to the present, a patient Minghao sitting across from a reminiscing Junhui.

Junhui tried to not show that he was caught off guard by Minghao's question, he always turned a little too smug for Junhui’s liking when Minghao realized that he “outsmarted Junhui’s people reading skills”.

“I don’t really have much of one. Why do you ask?” Asked back Junhui, since Minghao had been waiting for him to reply before continuing. Junhui has known Minghao long enough to know that he wasn’t genuinely concerned with Junhui’s opinion on it, but had only asked as a gateway to him saying his own opinion.

Minghao tapped his nail on the table, seemingly gathering his thoughts before starting.

“I just think it’s interesting. It’s kinda fun to see a different side to the rough Jihoon we know.” Explained Minghao.

Junhui scoffed. “You know he’s only rough because I’m around, I doubt he’s like it to all of his friends.” Replied back Junhui. But he might be wrong, from what he’s witnessed of Jihoon interactions with his friends, they don’t seem to be fazed by the brash and tough love front he puts up.

“Yeah I know, it’s just interesting.” Repeated Minghao, who has since stopped his tapping. He leaned a little forward with his elbows now propped on the table. “Maybe this is something our little Jihoonie needs to finally come out of his shell.”

Junhui raised his eyebrow at Minghao's words. “You make it seem like he’s our child or something.”

Junhui processed the words that he just said in combination to Minghao's own words before he came to a slight realization that had Junhui narrowing his eyes.

“Or even worse, like some sort of project.”

Junhui would be a fool to believe the innocent shrug Minghao had sent him at the accusation.

“I honestly have no idea what you’re implying.” Responded back Minghao before his eyes drifted to the entrance of the library. “Speaking of projects, yours just walked in.”

Junhui felt his back stiffen at that. He knew it was going to bite him in the ass when he let Minghao know about his crush on Wonwoo. Junhui’s casually turned his head to confirm that it was Wonwoo that Minghao was talking about.

And there he was in all his perfect glory. Well, almost perfect, for his blotch of a boyfriend was connected to Wonwoo by their intertwined hands. Mingyu seemed to be trying to pull a willing Wonwoo in a certain direction, obviously having a destination in mind.

Junhui felt his heart clench a little from the warm smile Wonwoo was sending Mingyu, upset that it was being directed at anyone but him.

Junhui was distracted from the pair by Minghao's voice.

“You know, if you wanted, I could distract the beautiful tree that Wonwoo calls a boyfriend if you wanted to shimmy in on that. Might actually give you a chance at actually getting with Wonwoo.”

Junhui turned to glare at Minghao. “You _know_ that I wasn’t being serious when I brought up the idea of breaking them up to get with Wonwoo.” Hissed out Junhui quietly, not wanting anyone to overhear their conversation.

Minghao just smirked at Junhui, both of them fully aware that Junhui was completely serious when he brought up the idea a week or so ago over empty bottles of liquor.

“Besides, you’re straight.” Brought up Junhui, trying to give Minghao a good reason that ‘Mission: Home Wrecker’ was something they should leave untouched.

“Oh, am I now?” Replied back Minghao slyly.

Junhui could only give his best friend a wary look.

Knowing Minghao’s unpredictability, Junhui was no longer completely sure of his statement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry. I really got carried away with this chapter. But I felt like I needed to explain a lot of backstory to Minghao's personality that I was depicting, while still making it seem not too OOC to Minghao if in real life. 
> 
> But since this is an AU, I do feel like I can take small liberties with things like personalities since what the characters have experienced in my alternate universe are different to what the actual members of Seventeen have experienced.
> 
> Small Cameo from Jackson of Got7! I plan on having some more of the Got7 ensemble show up in later chapters so expect that!
> 
> Also a fun thing to point out, I’m a full believer in the fact that people act differently depending on who they are around, which will kinda be an ongoing thing in this fic, with a few instances already being portrayed.
> 
> (Seungcheol becoming the more eccentric of the two when it's just him and Seokmin, Minghao showing more than just an innocent side to Junhui, and more to be revealed as the story goes on.) 
> 
> Also I promise these weird side chapters all have a reason!! Hopefully you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them! Plus I swear the next chapter we will finally see what happened between JiCheol.


	14. October 29th, 2015

Jihoon felt restless as he paced around his small dorm room. The clock on his bedside table read ‘3:30’, meaning that he would have to leave soon to meet up with Seungcheol.

When Jihoon had received a secondary text from Seungcheol yesterday asking if he wanted to meet up today, Jihoon could almost feel himself trip over himself in his haste to take the opportunity.

He, for reasons he no longer understood himself, had decided that he was going to wait and see if Seungcheol was going to text him again after ignoring the first one. In a way, it would show Jihoon if Seungcheol was still interested in him.

So when Seungcheol had passed Jihoon’s test of sorts and ended up texting Jihoon again even when he hadn’t replied to the last one, Jihoon felt a wind of relief sweep through him. And with the text, went all the doubt Jihoon had started to harbor after talking with Minghao.

Seungcheol had even asked to hang out on not a Friday, which was new to their usual schedule they had unconsciously set up with each other.

It showed Jihoon that Seungcheol was at least still interested in talking with him and maybe heading in the direction of becoming boyfriends, something Jihoon had realized that he actually wanted.

It was a strange thing for Jihoon, wanting to actually get closer and become something to Seungcheol. He usually wasn’t one to initiate, let alone want, more interaction between him and someone else.

Jihoon had formed his friendships with Wonwoo and Mingyu through years of the two boys trailing and pulling along Jihoon. He couldn’t even pinpoint a spot in time where he had officially became ‘friends’ with the pair of boys. But somewhere along the years, it just became custom and out of the ordinary if the three didn’t hang out.

So to have someone that Jihoon actually wanted to make an effort in pursuing was completely out of his comfort zone. But strangely, Jihoon wasn’t completely turned off by that fact. He kept telling himself, this was a good thing, especially for someone he wanted to date.

But now, Jihoon was nervous. The change from their custom schedule was tilting Jihoon, making him nervous all over again as to what was to come.

Plus, Seungcheol’s sudden proclamation to meet up after not talking for a little bit beforehand only made it worse for Jihoon. The sudden change in their usual tripped up Jihoon, making him feel unstable and nervous to what was to come.

Jihoon was just grateful that Junhui wasn’t around to witness the nervous wreak Jihoon had become. He wouldn’t hear the end of it for at least a week.

Jihoon turned to the entrance of his dorm the second the clock changed to ‘3:40’. He had already done the math, and he knew that this was the time he needed to leave at if he wanted to arrive at their meet up destination appropriately early.

They had arranged to meet up at the cafe again, since it was one of the few places the two have been together on campus, making it a familiar meet up spot to the both of them.

While Jihoon slipped on his shoes, he offhandedly hoped that Seungcheol’s friend wasn’t working. He really didn’t need the added stress of someone trying to eavesdrop on them today.

Jihoon had arrived at 4 o'clock, right when he had planned on arriving. Seungcheol had let him know that he had a class until 4, so he wouldn’t be able to make it till around 10 minutes later, but Jihoon wanted time to find a table and sit before Seungcheol would make his appearance.

Jihoon was relieved to see that the Seungkwan kid had the day off apparently, but the Vernon one was behind the counter. Jihoon hoped to all that was holy that he wasn’t going to be recognized, but apparently he was asking for too much.

“Hey, you’re that guy.” Said Vernon the second Jihoon came up to the counter to order.

“Yeah, I’m that guy...” Confirmed Jihoon dryly. He didn’t need Vernon to elaborate as to what he meant by ‘that guy’.

Surprisingly, Vernon didn’t ask much more, seemingly able to pick up on the fact that Jihoon really didn't want to talk much about the last time he had been there.

“So what can I getcha?” Asked Vernon casually.

Jihoon then rattled off his usual order to Vernon. Before Jihoon could walk off after paying, Vernon stopped him by saying, “You know, you’d be less obvious without the pink hair.”

It wasn’t the first time Jihoon had heard that, but he was mainly caught off guard by Vernon being able to put together that he didn’t want to be recognized. So he just nodded in acknowledgment before going over and sitting in a recently vacated booth. He preferred booths over the small tables around the place since it felt more private.

Jihoon had received his coffee and was able to drink about one forth of it before Seungcheol made his appearance.

Seungcheol practically burst into the place, causing the door to rebound back from its stopping mechanism to almost hit Seungcheol. He narrowly dodged it before turning to scan the small cafe for Jihoon. When his eyes landed on him, he smiled and made a beeline for his table.

When Seungcheol arrived, he dropped his backpack into the unoccupied side of the booth before leaning over to side hug Jihoon, who was still sitting in his seat. But this time, Jihoon was prepared. He leaned in, but wasn’t able to reciprocate from his sitting position without it being horribly awkward.

But Seungcheol seemed to have notice the small amount of reciprocation that was provided. Jihoon wasn’t sure how Seungcheol was able to make his smile even brighter than it was before, but he somehow managed.

“Sorry that I wasn’t here sooner, my last class wasn’t very close.” Explained Seungcheol.

Jihoon quirked his eyebrow, a little skeptical to why Seungcheol wanted to meet up here then if it was so far. “Don’t worry about it, I wasn’t here long.” Said Jihoon, easily excusing Seungcheol accusation of being late.

Seungcheol then eyed Jihoon cup. “Did you need another?”

Jihoon shook his head no. His was still fairly full.

“Alright, I’ll be right back then.” Said Seungcheol has he excused himself to go up and get himself a drink.

Jihoon watched Seungcheol converse with Vernon, who definitely recognized Seungcheol. Seungcheol was talking wildly with his hands to Vernon who seemed to have lit up when he recognized Seungcheol.

But by Seungcheol’s movements, Jihoon could figure out that Seungcheol was on the defensive in the conversation.

When Seungcheol came back, he looked exhausted.

“Asking about your rapping career?” Asked Jihoon playfully, amused at Seungcheol’s attempts to deter the kid.

“Unfortunately…” Replied Seungcheol as he took his seat opposite of Jihoon. He was pushing his backpack to the side when Jihoon’s words seemed to register.

“And what do you mean by career?? I told you, it’s only a small hobby..” Said Seungcheol dejectedly.

Jihoon couldn’t help but snicker at that. It was almost too easy to tease Seungcheol. “I know I know, I’m only kidding.”

They were able to fall back into their usual small banter and talk fairly easily. To the point that Jihoon found himself realizing it was probably ridiculous that he had been so nervous to meet up with Seungcheol again.

It wasn’t until Seungcheol started to nervously fiddle with his coffee cup during a lull in the conversation that Jihoon realized that he might have spoken, or thought, too soon. 

Even though they had been talking easily for the past 20 minutes, something must have reminded Seungcheol of the real reason he had asked Jihoon out.

Seungcheol’s nervousness was contagious, but Jihoon hid his well. There was no need to show Seungcheol that he too was suddenly nervous.

Seungcheol bit his lip before he finally spoke up.

“So. Are you done with your coffee there?”

Well. Definitely not what Jihoon had been expecting after such a blatant show of anxiety. Jihoon could feel the nervousness he had picked up from Seungcheol drain out of him just as suddenly as it had came.

Jihoon looked down to his cup before swinging it side to side, able to feel that there was barely anything left in the bottom to slosh around.

“Yeah, barely any left.” Replied Jihoon.

Seungcheol mirrored Jihoon’s action. “Yeah, I’m about out too.”

He realized that with the excuse of drinking coffee gone, that means that the next course of actions would be to part ways. Jihoon’s internal clock was telling him that it had barely been 30 minutes since Seungcheol had arrived, and he wasn’t about to go buy another coffee just to get an excuse to continue sitting here.

Seungcheol had in the meantime since taken the top off of his coffee cup and downed the rest that must have been pooling at the bottom before making a slight disgusted face.

Jihoon could only watch on as Seungcheol stuck his tongue out before explaining. “Lukewarm coffee is the worst, why did I even do that?”

Jihoon then took the top off his own to visually look at the small pool of coffee at the bottom of his. “I guess I’ll learn from your mistake and just leave mine be.”

Seungcheol just smiled over to Jihoon as he reattached his lid to his cup. “Good idea.”

Jihoon knew now that it was their cue to get up and part ways. But both of them seemed to have been trying in their own ways to draw out their meeting. But this wasn’t ever established as an official ‘date’. Instead, Seungcheol had just asked it they wanted to hang out, never explicitly stating if this meetup was more of a date then a friends hanging out. But Jihoon was still semi-confident that Seungcheol was still trying to press towards a more romantic relationship.

But his thoughts were taking a turn for the worst, as Seungcheol then got up to throw out both his and Jihoon’s trash. Maybe Jihoon had misinterpreted what Seungcheol was trying to get at by asking to see him today. Maybe this was instead a meet up for Seungcheol to formally tell Jihoon he no longer wanted to keep dating. Maybe that was why this was never established as a real date.

All this uncertainty was starting to grate on Jihoon’s emotions.

When Seungcheol returned to the booth, he grabbed his backpack and slung it onto his back, an obvious display that he was ready to go. But instead of just saying his goodbyes here, Seungcheol looked at Jihoon expectantly, waiting for the other to also get up.

Maybe it was time for Jihoon to take some more initiative with this relationship.

Jihoon too then stood up before walking with Seungcheol to the exit. He sent a quick wave to Vernon behind the counter before following Seungcheol out of the exit. But that was where their trail together apparently ended.

Seungcheol had stopped a few paces out, so they wouldn’t block cafe traffic, before turning to look at Jihoon. His looked expectant, but slightly hesitant. Like he really didn’t want to be saying goodbye already but neither of the boys had any good reason to stick together at present.

Jihoon could feel his fingers twitch at the idea of what he was about to do.

Right when Seungcheol started to raise his hand, maybe to finally signify that he was going to go, he was interrupted by Jihoon speaking up.

“If you have nothing better to do with your day, would you want to come over to my place?”

Jihoon wasn’t completely prepared for the wattage of Seungcheol’s smile, but he definitely was pleased that Seungcheol seemed completely on board for the idea.

“Yeah, definitely!”

Jihoon could only nod before turning to head in the direction of his dorm, fully expecting Seungcheol to follow after without prompt.

\----------------------------------------------------------

“I’m so excited, I can’t wait to see what your room looks like.” Spouted off Seungcheol as they made their way down the dorm's hallway to his room.

Seungcheol ended up crowding Jihoon a little bit in his excitement to see inside his room as he went to unlock his dorm room door, making him feel slightly cramped. But he couldn’t help but feel a little bit of Seungcheol’s positive energy rub off onto him.

When Jihoon finally opened the door, a giddy Seungcheol peaked in over Jihoon’s head only to be graced with the sight of Junhui lounging on his bed, browsing his phone.

When Junhui heard the door open, Jihoon was greeted with a pleasant sounding, “Welcome home.” Junhui’s gaze flicked quickly from Jihoon to Seungcheol, then back to Jihoon. “And with a visitor.”

Jihoon was thankful that Junhui seemed to never be surprised by anything. He could only imagine what Mingyu or Wonwoo’s reactions would have been if he showed up with Seungcheol in tow.

When both boys finally made their way into the room, Seungcheol quickly removed his shoes and greeted Junhui, outstretching his hand in greeting.

“Hello! I’m Seungcheol. You must be Jihoon’s roommate Junhui. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Junhui looked to Seungcheol, his gaze heavy and analytical. Jihoon knew that Seungcheol had no idea what he was getting himself into.

“I’m sure he must have told you about how I seem to know too much. But I’d like to clear that up and tell you that it’s Jihoon just being over dramatic.” Junhui then took Seungcheol’s outstretched hand before shaking it.

Seungcheol cast a nervous look at Jihoon, who could only tilt his head in fashion that seemed to say, ‘I told you so’.

Seungcheol returned his gaze to Junhui again, but his smile seemed to have added a more nervous twinge to it.

Seungcheol retreated back to Jihoon’s side now that introductions were over with. On his way over, his gaze traced the whole room, becoming more fascinated as his eyes landed on more of Jihoon’s things.

Admittedly, Jihoon didn’t own all that many personal belongings. Besides clothes and a few nick nacks such as a clock or a pencil cup, his side of the room was pretty bare of personal belongings.

He felt a little embarrassed as Seungcheol took his time to look over everything. Jihoon didn’t know why Seungcheol was so interested in his things, but it did make Jihoon feel a warmth grow in his chest.

Jihoon noted that this was another thing that showed Jihoon that Seungcheol had somehow become special to him. If it was anyone else trying to go through his stuff like Seungcheol was, he would have kicked them out already. Strange how different it was.

After a few minutes of Seungcheol looking and asking questions about almost everything, Jihoon saw Junhui get up and start to put his shoes on. Jihoon turned to look at his roommate before asking, “Going out?”

Junhui nodded before waving a quick goodbye to the both of them, shutting the door behind him.

The click weighed down on Jihoon, who was suddenly acutely aware of the fact that they were _alone._

They have never been alone together. Sure, Jihoon had already taken into consideration that Junhui might not have been there when he invited Seungcheol over, but since Junhui was there, Jihoon had dropped his guard, and forgot that it was something he might have needed to face today.

Jihoon glanced over to Seungcheol, trying to gauge what his reaction was to the sudden departure of his roommate, only to see him looking just as normal as ever.

Jihoon took a steady breath. This wasn’t a big deal if he didn’t make it into one.

Jihoon tried to remember how he was acting a few minutes ago. Nothing had really changed, there was just a more privacy factor.

Jihoon turned back to Seungcheol and completed his explanation of his mini sound board, something he had acquired at a used music shop, trying to fall back into the comfortable air they had going just minutes earlier.

And it worked, if only slightly. They were able to continue their conversation easily, but there was definitely a weight to the silences that stretched in between questions from Seungcheol.

Jihoon could only hope that he was the only one feeling it.

After they had thoroughly gone over almost all of Jihoon’s belongings, a good 20 minutes had passed since Junhui’s departure.

Jihoon had taken a seat on his bed while Seungcheol had made his way around inspecting and asking about any and everything he could ask about.

But now that he had gone through everything, he took a seat in what he had just recently learned was Jihoon’s desk chair, a small smile on his face. Jihoon couldn’t quite understand how Seungcheol could be so happy to hear about little stories and explanations of his stuff, but he wasn’t really complaining.

It was then that Seungcheol looked over to Jihoon, expression suddenly unreadable.

Before Jihoon could react in anyway to Seungcheol sudden mood change, Seungcheol spoke up.

“Actually, I was kinda hoping your roommate would go out before I had to leave.”

Jihoon sharply looked over to Seungcheol, suddenly on high alert. But Seungcheol wasn’t looking at him, but off to the left somewhere, not making eye contact with Jihoon.

Jihoon waited a few beats, seeing if Seungcheol would continue without any prompting. The silence stretched on, and Jihoon realized he wasn’t going to, so he spoke up.

“Oh, why’s that?” Jihoon was surprised at how steady his voice had came out. His insides were knotted, not really sure where this was heading.

Jihoon tried to grasp onto the small information that he was presented with. If what Seungcheol was about to bring up was something he couldn’t do so in front of other people, it means this was the make it or break it moment Jihoon feared was coming.

Jihoon watched as Seungcheol bit his lip before taking a steady breath, getting himself prepared for whatever he was about to say. The only thing Jihoon could do to prepare was try and calm his racing heart.

Seungcheol took one last deep breath before looking over to Jihoon. The connection between their eyes was like magnets, and Jihoon almost felt like he wouldn’t have been able to look away even if he wanted to.

Seungcheol then suddenly stood, causing Jihoon’s heart to jump into his throat for a second before he swallowed it down. He took in Seungcheol, hyper aware of his form coming closer. Jihoon found himself upset with how in a time like this he felt a swirl of excitement from noticing how much bigger Seungcheol was compared to his smaller form.

Everything about Seungcheol screamed power, from his height to his build. Jihoon could boast a bit about his own strength, but his body would never show it like how Seungcheol’s did.

Jihoon never thought he would be attracted to such things, but he tried to fight those thoughts away. This was not the time to be appreciating the view.

When Seungcheol made it to Jihoon, he sat besides him on the bed, causing it to dip towards Seungcheol heavier weight. In order to keep their eyes connected, Seungcheol had to turn and duck his head a bit.

Jihoon watched as Seungcheol flashed him a small comforting smile before reaching up and brushing his fingers through Jihoon’s hair, holding his hand there so that he was cupping the side of Jihoon’s head.

“Hey, don’t look so scared.” Came Seungcheol’s comforting words.

Jihoon was hyper aware of the warmth of Seungcheol’s palm against his head. All he could manage to do was nod slightly. Jihoon was still very unsure of what was about to happen, and now he had the proximity of Seungcheol messing with his head.

Seungcheol’s thumb then brushed his cheek, probably to reassure him more, but it was only succeeded in making him feel more like goo then pulled together.

There was a small tug in the back of Jihoon’s head. A voice telling him to pull himself together. That he shouldn’t be swooning in such a way just because a guy he had taken interest in was suddenly being physically affectionate. It most likely belonged to his pride, but he couldn’t find it in himself to be bothered with it right now.

Seungcheol’s smile grew wider, maybe realizing that he pretty much had Jihoon melting, and that seemed to allow Seungcheol to grow more confident.

“I just wanted to say that I really like you Jihoon.”

Jihoon wasn’t really sure if his poor heart was going to be able to take a beating like this. Every time he thinks he couldn’t get more flustered, it happened all over again.

And Jihoon didn’t really know why he was so surprised by Seungcheol’s words. If Jihoon took in all of Seungcheol’s actions up to this point and analyzed them objectively, coming to the conclusion that Seungcheol liked him was obvious.

But there was just something special about hearing the words from Seungcheol’s mouth.

Once again, it looked like Seungcheol was taking things slow and allowing Jihoon to process everything. He waited till Jihoon was able to nod again before continuing.

“And I was hoping- maybe- if you wanted to..” Jihoon was thankful for the small pause. Seungcheol’s eyes on his own were starting to burn, making it almost impossible to keep eye contact. His insides were a mess, and his embarrassment level was at an all time high.

Then suddenly, Jihoon felt smothered. Seungcheol was suddenly too close and Jihoon’s feelings were too intense and so sudden and he felt his fingers twitch, his body wanting him to _move._ The thankfulness for the pause was quickly swapped out for Jihoon hoping that Seungcheol would just get on with it.

His fight or flight instincts seemed to be kicking in. An overwhelming desire to push Seungcheol away, to rip the hand that was still rubbing soothing circles on his cheek away.

But he tried to fight his reaction. This is exactly what he wanted. He needed to fight the embarrassment and the need to run away from all these emotions. He needed to let Seungcheol finish. But he knew that if Seungcheol didn’t get on with it, he was going to do something he was going to regret.

And Seungcheol must have picked up on something, even if only subconsciously, because he was finally getting his last words out.

“Would you want to be my boyfriend?”

And with the question, Jihoon felt slightly liberated. Like all his fears and anxiety and the mild panic attack that just happened was all for nothing. That Seungcheol had liked him this whole time, and to even think that Seungcheol was going to tell him that they should maybe just be friends was dumb and irrational of him to think.

Jihoon hadn’t realized how tense he was until his whole body seemed to slump when he felt his muscles relaxing.

Emotionally exhausted, all Jihoon could manage to do was lean his head forward and onto Seungcheol’s shoulder, borrowing his face into the spot. Away from Seungcheol deep gaze and away from all the emotions he had just felt. Jihoon couldn’t help but note that Seungcheol’s natural smell was pleasant; inviting even.

Seungcheol melody of a laugh was heard from above Jihoon before he was wrapped in Seungcheol’s arms, who was now rubbing circles with one hand onto his lower back.

“Should I take that as a yes?”

Jihoon only nodded, positive that he wouldn’t have been able to verbally say yes, before borrowing his face a little deeper into Seungcheols crook between his neck and shoulder. It seemed to be enough though, as Seungcheol squeezed his small frame in affection.

“You’re cute.”

Jihoon could only get out a muffled, “Don’t call me cute.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~EmOtIoNs~~~! Both fun and hard to write. 
> 
> I think I’m going to change whether or not Vernon is called Vernon or Hansol depending on what POV I have going on. My thought process behind Jihoon calling him Vernon over Hansol is because Jihoon is also interested in the music industry, meaning he respects the idea of stage names and wanting to be called by them.
> 
> And finally! The JiCheol chapter you guys have probably been waiting for.. Hopefully it was worth the wait.. Plus! It’s longer than average! :D 
> 
> But this is only the beginning! Please look forward to all that I have planned!


	15. November 2nd, 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT NOTICE  
> So I have upped the rating from T to M  
> When I started this fic many months ago, I never could imagine that it would have evolved to be what it is today. So after extensive planning and consideration, I have decided to go ahead and up the rating.  
> It isn't necessarily for this chapter, but I do have plans where Alcohol consumption and Sexual content will be added so please be warned! Nothing to the point of E rating, but this is a college AU and so to make it seem as realistic (In my mind) as possible, I have gone ahead and added it.  
> Hopefully you all wont mind!

A few days had passed since Seungcheol had finally gathered the courage to ask Jihoon to be his boyfriend. He didn’t really know what he was expecting to change once they became official, but not much had.

Well, at least on the surface. Seungcheol knew that a lot had changed for him emotionally.

This was a huge step for Seungcheol. His break up with Jeonghan had really left a lot of emotional scars. To think that he had recovered enough to start something new with someone else was huge. If you had told the Seungcheol of 5 months ago this news, he wouldn’t have believed it to be true.

But as for their surface stuff, they fell back into what they had been doing effortlessly. They still texted constantly, but now, Seungcheol didn’t feel like he was bothering Jihoon as much with it. Now that they were boyfriends, it was like they both came to the understanding that they are suppose to bother each other more about and everything.

Well, that was at least how Seungcheol felt. Jihoon was his usual self, barely giving hints to what he was doing with his day without prompt from Seungcheol. But at least Seungcheol no longer felt like he was overstepping a privacy boundary by doing so. And he got the slight feeling that Jihoon was trying a little harder to be more open.

Unfortunately, it may have been bad timing on Seungcheol's part on when he asked him out, since they had yet to find a day they could be together since. But Seungcheol figured that it was fine. He didn’t want to completely smother Jihoon of his privacy just because they became official.

Seungcheol could tell that Jihoon had been struggling with his emotions the day he asked him to be his boyfriend.

Seungcheol had to remind himself that this was Jihoon's first real relationship, he was bound to take a big hit in the emotions department.

So the usual only seeing each other once a week thing was probably good for now. 

Getting the official title of boyfriends was already a big change to Jihoon's life, he didn’t want to scare him off with any sudden changes in their behavior too.

So, Seungcheol was letting them plateau a bit before going and inviting himself over to Jihoon's place or asking if he wanted to come to his. He wanted to let things come naturally, and at a pace that Jihoon was comfortable with.

The day Seungcheol confessed to Jihoon, the poor boy looked like Seungcheol said he wanted to discuss how he was going to kill Jihoon rather than asking him to be his boyfriend. Seungcheol tried to sooth the boy in any way that he could think of, but it looked like Jihoon was on the brink of a mental breakdown. He wasn’t about to tell him that though.

Seungcheol had learned a lot about Jihoon in the small amount of time they had been talking, and he knows that emotions weren’t the best thing for Jihoon to sort out and deal with. So Seungcheol was happy that it had turned out the way it did.

But that also meant he had to be patient and give Jihoon time to adjust.

So here he was sitting on his couch, waiting for Seokmin and Soonyoung to arrive to his apartment. Mondays were the day that Seungcheol had no classes scheduled, so he usually bummed around his apartment the whole day, trying to soak in as much relaxation he could get before his official work week started.

He had invited Soonyoung and Seokmin over since he had ditched out on their usual Thursday hang out, hoping to reconcile and maybe tell them the good news.

Only a few minutes after wondering when the two boys would show up, he heard the front door lock clicking open. Seungcheol perked up from his spot to watch as Seokmin, Soonyoung and Seungkwan came bustling into his place in their usual rowdy manner, pleasantly surprised to see Seungkwan accompanying them.

Soonyoung and Seokmin together were already a hassle, but adding Seungkwan to the pair created the perfect storm. The three had even become slightly famous around campus because of how crazy they could be together. Luckily for most, the three of them had mainly conflicting schedules, so it was rare to have everyone together at once.

Which meant this was going to be one hell of a day.

When all of the boys had put away their shoes, they made their way over to the lounging Seungcheol. Soonyoung ended up getting half way from the entrance to the couch before thinking it was a good idea to see if he could clear the rest of the distance with a powerful jump.

Seungcheol could feel the air leave his lungs from Soonyoung's sudden weight landing on him.

“What the hell Soonyoung?!” Coughed out Seungcheol, which was drowned out by the loud laughs of the three other boys.

Seungkwan plopped down on the other end of the couch, well out of reach of Soonyoung and Seungcheol who was busy trying to push the blond off of him. Soonyoung couldn't help but laugh more as he tried to stay put on top of Seungcheol out of spite.

“Oh cheer up Seungcheol, you should be in a great mood. I heard you finally made it official with your boyfriend.” Came Seungkwan's comment from the other side of the couch, all the while looking nonchalant, like what he just said wasn’t news to everyone else in the room.

Seungcheol was caught off guard by Seungkwan's statement, causing him to pause in his fight against Soonyoung. The boy took the opportunity to resituate himself completely onto Seungcheol's lap, his feet up and spread out onto the rest of the couch available.

Seokmin hi-fived Soonyoung in passing before he too hopped onto the couch, crushing Soonyoung's feet under his weight. Soonyoung couldn't help the yelp of pain as he pulled his feet back, pouting over at a grinning Seokmin.

“Where did you hear that?” Asked Seungcheol, trying to look over and between Seokmin and Soonyoung to Seungkwan.

“Oh you know. Around.” Answered Seungkwan cryptically. Seokmin leaned over to Soonyoung before stage whispering into his ear.

“That just means he overheard someone talking about it at the coffee shop.” The resulting indigent look from Seungkwan caused the pair to start up their snickers again.

Seungcheol was slightly stunned by the news. He thought that _he_ would have been the one to tell people before Jihoon would.

Seungcheol wasn’t sure if he should feel flattered that Jihoon was apparently eager to tell people they were dating or confused by how uncharacteristic it was.

Before Seungcheol could think up a reply, Soonyoung grabbed Seungcheol's shoulders and started to shake him back and forth.

“But wait! Does that mean that you finally asked Jihoon out?!” Yelled Soonyoung, too close to Seungcheol's ears for comfort. He felt Seokmin hand land on his shoulder in a congratulatory thud.

“Good for you man! I knew you had it in you.”

Seungcheol was starting to feel overwhelmed by everything, but luckily he was a pro in dealing with these three.

Seungcheol placed his hand on Soonyoung's face, causing the boy to stop shaking him from confusion. Before Soonyoung could do anything about the hand covering his face, Seungcheol lifted his other arm to grip the back of Soonyoung's head before swinging the boy to his side, causing the boy to fall off of Seungcheol lap and into Seokmin's own.

Seungcheol kept the hand he had on the back of Soonyoung's head, keeping his's face pressed into the couch cushions. “Shhh~ Soonyoung. Only dreams now.”

Soonyoung started to wiggle violently, his muffled voice incomprehensible. Both Seokmin and Seungkwan started to laugh at Soonyoung's misery.

Seungcheol soon let go though, letting Soonyoung pop up and take an over exaggerated gasp of air.

“I thought I was going to die.” Lamented Soonyoung as he slumped into the couch where he had ended up sitting in between Seokmin and Seungcheol. Seungcheol could only shrug as Seokmin patted Soonyoung's arm in comfort.

Now that the main distraction had been dispatched, Seungcheol returned his gaze to Seungkwan who returned it was a questioning look of his own.

“So you did hear it from the cafe?” Asked Seungcheol. He was a little too curious for his own good as to who Jihoon had ended up telling so soon. Seungcheol hadn’t even gotten to telling his friends till just now.

Seungkwan just nodded before explaining. “Jihoon's been a regular at the Cafe for a while now.” Started Seungkwan. Seungcheol nodded hard, he had already knew that.

“But now that I know him, I notice more when he comes in now. He usually comes alone, but sometimes he comes in with two other guys. One's real tall with pretty good fashion sense and the other looks like he never outgrew his emo stage.” Drawled off Seungkwan, getting side tracked. A pointed look from Seungcheol steered him back onto course.

“But anyways, the only reason I ended up hearing it was because the tall one he was with pretty much yelled it to the whole Cafe.” Ended Seungkwan with a slight shrug, forgoing his earlier act of knowing by some cryptic means to tell the full truth to Seungcheol.

Seungcheol pursed his lips at the info. Seungcheol knew that Jihoon had two friends from high school that he hung out with, but he has yet to meet them, so he had no idea if who Seungkwan just described was them. But Seungcheol could only imagine Jihoon telling them, since he had told Seungcheol that he wasn’t really close with anyone besides those two.

He made a mental note to ask Jihoon about it later when Seokmin spoke up.

“Hey, but now that you guys are official, when am I going to meet him?” Seokmin slouched a little before pouting at Seungcheol. “I’m the only one here who has yet to.”

Seungcheol smiled at Seokmin. He was happy to hear that his friends were interested in meeting Jihoon. It meant that they were interested in knowing more about him and their budding relationship.

Seungcheol couldn’t help but reach over and ruffle Seokmin’s hair, effectively getting rid of the pout on his lips.

“I’ll ask Jihoon if Thursday would be a good day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY INTO A NEW MONTH IN THE STORY!!~~ Never thought I would get here, tbh. But anyways, I think the timeline is going to start spreading out more now, so if you weren’t paying much attention to the dates, you might want to now!
> 
> Man, trying to capture and write down the hecticness that I’m sure happens when the beagle trio are around was intense..
> 
> And so many S names in this chapter @.@


	16. November 5th, 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY SO. Unfortunately, last Saturday, my laptop broke.. Nothing major, but I needed to go and get it fixed. And only just now got it back. So sorry for the late update.. But I'm back!

Soonyoung was laying on Seungcheol’s couch, lounging around until Seungcheol showed up. Seungcheol had texted them only a few minutes earlier saying that he was going to be coming over now with Jihoon in tow. 

Soonyoung was trying to strive off the small amount of nerves that were for some reason swirling around in his stomach by busying himself with his phone. This will be the first time he has met up with Jihoon outside of dance club. When ever he had asked Jihoon if he wanted to hangout afterwards, he had always turned down his offers to do so.

Jihoon was a huge enigma to Soonyoung. Jihoon’s actions had never really made sense to him and sometimes seemed even contradictory. Why would he refuse to see Soonyoung outside of dance club but agree to go on a blind date he had set him up with? 

Soonyoung licked his teeth as he thought about it. He was a little nervous for Seungcheol though because of it. What were Jihoon’s reasons to go on a date with someone he had never even met? Soonyoung hadn’t been suspicious about it at the time, too distracted by the fact that Jihoon had _agreed_ to go on the blind date to think about it too much.

Maybe he was overthinking it, but it made Soonyoung think that maybe Jihoon had a special grudge out _just_ for Soonyoung. Why else would he ignore all chances of friendship with Soonyoung outside of the club but start dating Seungcheol only after knowing him for a few weeks?

When Soonyoung had first introduced himself to Jihoon, he had gotten a little more than a grunt and a obligatory reply with his own name. Soonyoung couldn’t recall ever getting a bigger ‘Don't Talk To Me’ sign from anyone else in his life.

But Soonyoung was nothing if not stubborn. Because of the blatant show of not wanting to be friends, Soonyoung decided to take it as a challenge to get Jihoon to acknowledge him. 

It had taken a few weeks, but Jihoon had finally stopped resisting Soonyoung’s advancements and settled on accepting that Soonyoung was going to come and bother him whenever he could during club. 

But maybe _because_ of his overzealousness to be friends was the reason why Jihoon now held a grudge against Soonyoung? But he couldn’t even say for sure if that was just how Jihoon was and Seungcheol ended up being special or not.

So to say that Soonyoung was a little jealous of how Seungcheol had gotten the boy to open up to him so fast wouldn’t have been a lie. 

Soonyoung was interrupted from his thoughts by Seokmin coming out the kitchen and motioning for Soonyoung to make room for him on the couch. Soonyoung only pulled his legs into a criss cross position so that he wouldn’t have to get up from his laying position while still giving Seokmin room to sit. 

Seokmin took his spot in the recently vacated part of the couch before looking over at Soonyoung with a questioning glance.

“Nervous?” Asked Seokmin. Soonyoung made a face at his question.

“Why would I be nervous?” 

“Hmm,” Hummed Seokmin as he pulled his phone from his pocket to check the time. “I dunno, maybe because this will be your first time seeing Jihoon as not Jihoon, but as ‘Seungcheol’s Boyfriend’?”

Soonyoung sent a look to Seokmin, who didn’t spare him a glance. This was something Soonyoung hated about his friendship with Seokmin. The boy could almost read him _too_ well. Made it hard for Soonyoung to keep secrets from him.

“I saw him yesterday at dance club.” Mumbled out Soonyoung. 

“Yeah, but did you guys talk about Seungcheol?” Countered Seokmin

Soonyoung licked his lips before sitting up, not looking over to Seokmin’s gaze.

“No..” 

“Just as I thought.” Mused Seokmin. “Which means, you’re probably going to see a side of Jihoon you hadn’t seen before.”

Soonyoung was about to ask Seokmin just what exactly he meant by that when they heard the front door lock jiggle a little before opening. 

“And this is my place!” Announced Seungcheol with a sweep of his arm. 

Soonyoung watched as Jihoon walked in, looking around a bit before looking back to Seungcheol. 

“A little dull, don’t you think?” Smirked Jihoon, an obvious teasing tone to his voice. 

“Hey! You’re one to talk.” Pouted Seungcheol. 

Seokmin took that as his cue to hop from the couch to approach the pair who were still next to the door. 

“Hello! You must be Jihoon.” Started Seokmin as he held his hand out to Jihoon to shake. 

“Oh yeah, introductions.” Said Seungcheol, who seemed to have just remembered that he was going to have other guests over too.

“This is Seokmin.” Started Seungcheol. Seokmin grinned widely to Jihoon who nodded in acknowledgement. 

“And that’s Soonyoung, but you already knew that.” Finished Seungcheol lamely. Soonyoung sent a small wave and a “Yo.” to Jihoon who nodded back.

“It’s nice to finally meet you Jihoon! It hurt to know that I was the last of Seungcheol’s friends to meet you.” 

“Yeah, but it was only an accident that he ended up meeting Seungkwan.” Said Seungcheol, trying to dispel Seokmin’s worries.

Seokmin took in Jihoon’s figure. After a few seconds Jihoon raised his eyebrow. “Not what you were expecting?” Asked Jihoon straightforwardly.

But Seokmin laughed good heartedly at Jihoon’s question. “I wouldn’t say that. The pink hair is a surprise though.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”

Soonyoung watched the three continue their banter from his spot on the couch. 

Soonyoung kinda wanted to be mad at how Seokmin had been right. He _was_ seeing a side to Jihoon that he hadn’t been able to elicit from their time together in the club. 

Soonyoung had known Jihoon as a boy whose life revolved around his school and work that went along with it. The club was even taken as a kind of work to Jihoon, who explained that he did it to keep his body moving rather than for fun when Soonyoung asked about his reason for coming.

Jihoon didn't smile much at dance club. But Soonyoung has already counted three good smiles that has graced Jihoon lips since he had arrived with Seungcheol. Soonyoung could feel the small seed of jealousy that had pitted itself in Soonyoung sprout a little.

But Jihoon wasn’t the only one whose behavior was affected. 

Seungcheol was much more lively than usual, taking joy in the small things Jihoon had commented on. The two interacted well and played off each others comments seamlessly, almost like they had been friends for decades rather than only about a month. Seokmin seemed more like a third wheeling presence than anything. 

And the longer Soonyoung watched, the more he felt the jealousy reseed. When he stopped taking in Jihoon’s actions as a singular thing and watched them both as a whole, it was almost amazing to watch. 

Soonyoung found himself slightly in awe at how much he could actually see both of the boys opening up before him. It may have been something not many others would have noticed. To most, it would just look like friends enjoying each others company.

But since Soonyoung has been able to see how both were like without each other, the change in both of them being together was almost striking.

Seungcheol looked over to Soonyoung then, breaking the small spell he seemed to have fallen under.

“Hey, quit your spacing and get ready to leave. I’m going to show Jihoon my room then we’re going out to eat.” 

Seokmin made his way over to Soonyoung when Seungcheol escorted Jihoon to his room, explaining small things about the stuff he owned on the way there. 

Soonyoung stood up then and stretched a little before he saw the look Seokmin was giving him.

“What?”

Seokmin shrugged a little before putting his arm around Soonyoung’s shoulder and steered him towards the front door where their shoes were at. 

“I was just wondering, was I right?”

Soonyoung busied himself with putting on his shoes so he didn’t have to look at Seokmin.

Seokmin _had_ been right though. The change in both of their behaviors was almost astounding. Jihoon seemed comfortable at Seungcheol’s side, allowing himself to open up and smile more.

But the the biggest change was in Seungcheol. A spark had returned to his eye, something he hadn’t seen ever since Jeonghan had stolen it when he broke his heart. 

Seungcheol really deserved the world, and it broke all of their hearts to see Seungcheol basically reseed into himself after the break up. He was naturally a boisterous, happy person. It looked like he just needed someone new to bring that back out of him.

Unconsciously, Soonyoung realized that he was smiling. 

He was genuinely happy that both of his friends seemed to have found a happiness that they couldn’t have without the other.


	17. November 9th, 2015

Jihoon opened the door to his dorm room, Wonwoo and Mingyu chatting happily behind him. It’s been awhile since they both had been over, and they had been pestered him all day to allow them to come over until he agreed just to get them to stop. Jihoon had been grateful that they at least asked this time around.

When the three of them made it through the doorway, Jihoon saw that both Junhui and Minghao were also over. A chorus of greetings were exchanged when both parties saw each other. 

Jihoon watched as Wonwoo and Mingyu made their way into the room, making themselves comfortable. But Jihoon hung by the door, now slightly concerned as to if they should all hang out in their small dorm room together. 

It was already cramped when it was the four of them, but adding Minghao to the picture just made the small room feel even smaller then it was. 

Over the last week or so, Jihoon had noticed that Minghao had been coming over much more often than usual. Before, it was a rare thing for Jihoon to come back to the dorm to see Minghao over. But recently, he had been here almost every other day. Jihoon didn’t understand what had spurred Minghao into coming over more often, but he didn’t ask as to why the sudden influx of visits. Junhui had just as much a right as he did to have any of his friends over.

Wonwoo raised an eyebrow at Jihoon when he sat on Jihoon’s bed, obviously questioning why Jihoon hadn’t stepped farther into the room. 

Jihoon looked around, seeing that Minghao and Junhui had made themselves comfortable on Junhui’s bed. Mingyu had taken a seat in his desk chair while Wonwoo was sat on his bed. With everyone sitting down, it didn’t look as cramped as Jihoon would have thought it would be with five college students in it. 

Dismissing the thought of going somewhere else, he proceeded to take his shoes off and make himself as much at home as everyone else had. 

Jihoon had just sat down on the bed with Wonwoo when he heard Junhui strike up conversation. 

“How’s the psychology project coming Wonwoo?” 

Wonwoo seemed to deflate a bit at the question. “Man, why you gotta remind me about that?” 

Junhui chuckled at Wonwoo’s distain. Jihoon looked between the two, confused at how Junhui had even _known_ that Wonwoo had a project due.

“Do you guys have class together or something?” Asked Jihoon. He wasn’t aware if the two had began talking on their own accord, but that was the best question he could think of to figure out the answer without asking directly.

Wonwoo shook his head before answering. “Nah, but we bumped into them a few days ago at the library. Turns out that me and Junhui have the same teacher for Psychology.” Explained Wonwoo easily, Junhui nodding along to Wonwoo’s words.

“Oh, that’s cool I guess.” Replied Jihoon lamely. Now that he figured out that Junhui hadn’t somehow became close with Wonwoo without Jihoon’s knowledge, he no longer really cared to keep that conversation going.

Jihoon liked Junhui as much as you would like a nosy roommate who only knew enough boundaries to make rooming together bearable. But he did suspect the boy of harboring a crush for Wonwoo. He was well acquainted to the boys flirtatious tendencies, having fallen victim to them early on in their roommate career, but has since fallen out of doing so with him. 

But Jihoon wasn’t blind to the fact that Junhui just so happened to be all over Wonwoo when he was alone, but a good distance whenever Mingyu was around. Jihoon wasn’t completely sure if Wonwoo was ignorant to Junhui’s behavior changes or just playing dumb.

Every time Jihoon would ask, he had yet to get a straight answer from Wonwoo, who always acted like he had no idea what Jihoon was talking about.

Jihoon was pulled from his thoughts when Minghao jumped up from where he was sitting, an excited look on his face.

“I just remembered! One of my roommates is having a party at our place this Saturday. Would you guys want to come?” 

Wonwoo and Mingyu exchanged looks, seemingly able to communicate with their eyes before they both looked back to the excited Minghao.

“We’re invited too?” Asked Mingyu skeptically. Jihoon was just as skeptical as they were. He didn’t think _he_ was close enough with Minghao to have him invite Jihoon to his party, let alone Wonwoo and Mingyu too. 

“Of course! The more the merrier.” Answered Minghao joyfully, clasping his hands together in delight. 

Jihoon looked to Junhui, seeing if he could gauge a reaction from him. But as Jihoon had expected, Junhui was wearing his default bored look, seemingly not very interested in Minghao's party or who he invited, busy scrolling through his phone from his laying position on his bed.

“Are you going Junhui?” Asked Wonwoo from Jihoon’s side. 

Junhui hummed a response before speaking up. “Yeah, I plan on it.” 

Wonwoo and Mingyu exchanged another glance before looking to Jihoon. He didn’t like what he saw.

Mingyu was smiling at him, and Jihoon could already tell that the two had decided that they wanted to go. It was just a matter of them getting Jihoon to come along now.

“It sounds like fun!” Exclaimed Mingyu, somehow looking like he was saying it to Jihoon more than Minghao, who he should have been addressing. 

“Oh no. I don’t do parties.” Countered Jihoon. He knew the best way to deal with his two friends was to take away all chances of them trying to convince him by instantly turning down whatever they were trying to rope him into doing.

Mingyu groaned loudly as he slumped into the desk chair. “Why are you no fun?” Pouted Mingyu from his spot.

Jihoon scowled at him. “And you calling me no fun is suppose to convince me to go?” 

Jihoon had been prepared for Mingyu and Wonwoo to pester him, but his defenses weren’t ready to deal with Minghao when decided he wanted to too.

Said boy stepped up to Jihoon before clasping his hands in front of him while sending Jihoon the most watery eyed pout he had seen in him life. “Please Jihoon? I think it would be a lot more fun if you came too.” 

Jihoon felt a small twist in his chest, conflicted. How could he go and reject Minghao, thus crushing such an innocent plea? 

Truth was, he couldn’t.

Jihoon slumped his shoulders before muttering out a small. “Fine..” 

Minghao nearly cheered at Jihoon’s confirmation. Mingyu and Wonwoo both whooped a bit too. Wonwoo sent a thumbs up to Minghao, happy that he got Jihoon to agree to come along.

“Great! It’s at my place, starting at 8.” Started Minghao, an excited glimmer in his eyes. “It’s a house just off campus. If you go north from the rec building, you’ll run into the main road. After one light, you’ll take a right there onto a smaller road. You should take that all the way down till you have to either turn right or left. You’ll turn right before-” 

Minghao stopped his excited explanation of the directions when he noticed the confused looks on Mingyu and Wonwoo’s faces. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Well. Maybe I should just get each of your guy's number so I can just text you the address? That way you’ll have my number too just in case you get lost or have any questions.” 

Minghao pulled out his phone then before passing it to Mingyu, who instantly started to input his number into his contact list. When finished, he passed it to Wonwoo, who repeated the process with his own number. 

Wonwoo handed over Minghao's phone when he was done to Jihoon. He felt a little reluctant giving his number out so easily. He tried to convince himself that the dread he felt was from him realizing that once Minghao had his number, he wouldn’t be able to find an excuse to not go to the party. Minghao would just convince him to come again just like he had just done. Jihoon hated being the cause to Minghao looking so sad that much. 

After a moment's hesitation, he went and added his too. 

When done, he passed it back to Minghao’s waiting hand, a smile on his face. 

“Alright, I’ll text you guys the address now just to make sure it goes through.”

Sure enough, when Minghao had finished typing out his text, all three of their phones went off, confirming it went through.

Jihoon read the text fast, not really caring to look over the address in that moment. When he turned off his phone screen, he realized he hadn’t heard anything from Junhui for a while. 

He looked over to the boy only to see that sometime during the conversation, Junhui had turned to face the opposite wall, hiding his face from the rest of them in the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, I’m excited for the chapters to come. I plan on the party chapters to be long with a few different point of views going to happen, so look forward to it! 
> 
> Things are really going to start to pick up drama wise too now so.. Look forward for that too.


	18. November 11th, 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> INFO UPDATE:  
> Just as a heads up, This is the chapter I was referencing when I decided to up the rating on this fic, so please be aware that this chapter contains (mild) sexual activity. 
> 
> Also, as a side note, I have changed the summary too. Back when I first started this fic I never could have imagined it being what it is today, so I felt like a change was necessary to kinda point it more towards the direction I'm heading with this. 
> 
> P.S. Please don't hate me after this...

Wonwoo leaned back in his chair, watching Mingyu concentrate on some app he had just downloaded onto his phone. Mingyu had his tongue stuck out in concentration, completely focused on his game. Cheerful music filled the air of their small dorm room, only getting interrupted here and there with random sound effects as Mingyu played around.

It was a normal Wednesday afternoon for the two. The day consisted of them going to their earlier classes, finding lunch somewhere, then returning to their shared dorm to waste away the rest of the day doing whatever they could think of doing to take up their time.

Wonwoo couldn’t help but eye Mingyu’s tongue, which had yet to recede back into his mouth. Wonwoo knew that if he so wished, he could go and do what he pleased with said tongue, but decided against doing anything at present. But maybe later.

Wonwoo has been dating Mingyu for a little over 4 years now. They got together during the summer of 2011, when Mingyu had finally confessed to a knowing Wonwoo. He had suspected the boy of liking him for a while, but Mingyu had always had a hard time when it came to sorting out feelings that were anything more than simple happiness.

So when Mingyu had finally realized that what he was feeling for Wonwoo was something more than just friendship, it was a downpour of sputtering and blurted words, easily rivaling a scene from any big name romantic dramas. Wonwoo, who had a much easier time than Mingyu coming to terms with his feelings, just waited patiently for the other to get all that he wanted to say out before kissing him as his answer, marking the start of their relationship together.

The longevity of their relationship had came with its pros and cons. The pros being that they knew everything about each other and never could hide anything from the other. The cons being that they knew _everything_ about each other and never could hide anything from the other.

There was always the simple joy that could be found in a freshly brewed cup of coffee being sat next to him when Mingyu could sense his day in class had been particularly stressful.

But same came the feeling of annoyance when Mingyu would call him out on his shit that Wonwoo couldn’t even deny because Mingyu _knows_ him and how he gets sometimes.

Pros being that they were comfortable with each other to the point that there was no expectation of having to do something interesting and exciting each moment they were together.

Cons being that they were _too_ comfortable with each other so they never tried to pull anything spontaneous or romantic on each other anymore. That had since died away sometime in their second year of dating.

Wonwoo watched as Mingyu then laid back in their shared double sized bed, making himself more comfortable, phone still glued to his face. The regulation two twin bed frames that came from the dorms have since been pulled together and replaced with a double mattress so there was no crack in the middle to bother them.

And with the time came familiarity, but also complacency. It had gone without saying that they would share as many classes as they could together, that they would request each other as roommates, that they would spend every waking moment together when available to do so.

But Wonwoo couldn’t help it when his mind started to wonder. Instead of thinking about how wonderful his life was now with Mingyu as a constant factor, he wondered to what his life could have been _without_ the boy in it.

How many opportunities and life experiences had he missed because of it? Mingyu had been his first and last kiss, his first and last love and his first and last romantic partner.

He couldn’t help fantasizing about a faceless person, someone other than Mingyu, by his side. How different of a relationship he could have ended up in. Would he even be in a relationship in this moment in time if he hadn’t started one with Mingyu all those years ago?

But Wonwoo knew with all his heart that he was absolutely in love with Mingyu. He has been for years now. He couldn’t help but wonder what his life would have been like without Mingyu being at his side for the last 4 years of it, but that doesn’t mean he would trade those years away just to see ‘what if’.

Wonwoo was happy with Mingyu. And he was positive Mingyu was happy with him.

These thoughts have haunted Wonwoo for a while now, so it was only natural to bring them up to Mingyu.

When you’ve been in a relationship with someone as long as they have been, you know exactly where you stand with each other. No stray thoughts left covered or kept away from the other. Instead, they became topics of interest that the two could mill over together rather than being kept to themselves.

And that was probably the key to their success together as a couple. They were just so open to all thoughts and opinions that the other had to say. Not only that, but they gave each other the benefit of the doubt without hesitation. Even if it came to not very pleasant topics to bring up with said boyfriend.

It was one day maybe a year ago when Wonwoo had brought up the question of, “Do you ever imagine what life would have been like if we never got together?”

Mingyu had given him a strange look at the time. Maybe it was because Wonwoo hadn’t immediately followed it up with, ‘I couldn’t imagine it myself’ or anything equally as sappy.

Wonwoo had been serious. Maybe if he had brought it up a year earlier, the results of the conversation would have ended up differently. But since he had brought it up going on 3 years together, Mingyu respected where Wonwoo was coming from and really took the time to actually think _what if?_

These kind of deep conversations were few and far between, but through them they had learned that they were going to be there for each other through the thick and thin. And it would take something _huge_ to make one of them start to waiver on their status with the other.

“Do you think I’m pretty expressive or very expressive?” Came Mingyu’s bright voice, breaking Wonwoo out of his memory.

Wonwoo blinked a few times before looking to his boyfriend, whose attention was still completely on his phone.

“What’s the difference?” Asked Wonwoo, as he got up from his spot to make his way to lay next to Mingyu on the bed.

“Probably nothing, but I just want to be as accurate as possible.”

When Wonwoo leaned in to look at Mingyu’s screen, he watched as Mingyu played with the app, setting the personality for his character.

Wonwoo fixed him on one point, telling him that he wasn’t _that_ expressive, to which Mingyu was quick to fix.

Wonwoo felt his own phone vibrate from his back pocket. He pulled it out, eyes still trained on Mingyu’s phone to make sure he would catch any of Mingyu’s errors. Wonwoo had his phone up and on before he finally moved his gaze from one phone to the other.

_‘Hey Wonwoo~~ It’s Junhui. Sorry to bother you, but I had a question about yesterday's psychology class, and you happen to be the only one I know who also takes this course._

_P.S. Minghao gave me your number after I whined too much to him about how I was going to fail the homework’_

Wonwoo’s eyebrow lifting in question, not sure what to make of the message. He had been expected Jihoon, since he rarely texted anyone else besides him and Mingyu, who was laying next to him presently.

Mingyu must have had the same thoughts as him.

“Is that Jihoon?” Mingyu hadn’t cared to look to Wonwoo’s phone to check himself, too busy with his game.

Wonwoo had yet to start typing a reply when he answered.

“No, it’s Junhui.”

 _That_ had caught Mingyu’s interest. He put his phone down on the bed, completely forgotten, before scooching into Wonwoo’s side more so he could get a good look at the screen himself.

“Are we talking sex on legs, flirts with everything that looks vaguely human, player of the school, Jihoon’s roommate, Junhui?”

Wonwoo hummed in acknowledgment before finally typing a reply. He was already too use to Mingyu’s overreactions to give any real thought to his description of Junhui.

_‘Of course, what’s your question?’_

“What does he want?”

“He’s asking about psychology homework.”

Wonwoo could hear a light gasp come from Mingyu before his phone was being plucked out of his hands. This wasn’t the first time this had happened, and it wasn’t going to be the last, so Wonwoo just let him take it.

“You know what this means, right?” Asked Mingyu, in slight awe.

“Of course not.” Replied Wonwoo, curious as to what Mingyu was getting at.

Mingyu side eyed Wonwoo before rolling his whole body over, effectively laying right on top of Wonwoo.

“This means.” Whispered Mingyu, face close and eyes unwavering. “He’s trying to flirt with you.”

Wonwoo couldn’t help the squint and the pursed lips at Mingyu’s accusation. Wonwoo then blew a strong huff of wind up into Mingyu’s face, causing the boys bangs to be puffed back a bit before falling back into it’s original position.

“No he’s not, he knows we’re dating.” Came Wonwoo’s voice of reason.

The phone vibrated again, indicating that Junhui had replied to his message.

Mingyu ignored Wonwoo to look back at the phone.

_‘I think I know what I’m doing, but I didn’t take notes as thoroughly as I should have~ Here’s a picture of what I have so far’_

Mingyu read aloud Junhui’s second message before giving Wonwoo a pointed look.

“Of course he is, no one asks their friend for someone's number for _homework help_. There’s always an ulterior motive. Plus, I’ve seen the way he looks at you.” Mingyu then muttered out a quiet, “Oh man, look at all those squiggles. Those are flirtatious squiggles.”

He then threw down the phone onto the mattress, causing it to bounce once before settling near their tangled legs.

“Why’d you do that? Now I gotta go get it..” Pouted Wonwoo, acting like the distance between them and the end of the bed was equivalent to being across campus.

Mingyu ignored Wonwoo, quick to get back to what they were originally talking about.

“He’s _definitely_ flirting. I’m not surpri-”

Mingyu had cut himself off mid sentence, distracted by Wonwoo’s phone vibrating again, indicating that Junhui had texted Wonwoo a second time.

“Oh my god.. I just. Had the _best_ idea.”

Wonwoo watched as his boyfriend’s expression flitted somewhere on the spectrum of ‘Excited’ and ‘Awe Inspired’. Wonwoo poked Mingyu in his side.

“Well, get on with it. What’s your idea?” Wonwoo couldn’t help but be curious.

Mingyu’s smile transformed into something a little more predatory, as he brought his hand up to trace a finger from Wonwoo’s chin down his throat, ending at the hollow in between his collarbones.

“You, my hot boyfriend, should flirt with him back.”

Wonwoo’s couldn’t hide his surprise that arose from Mingyu’s statement.

When he looked Mingyu in his eyes, he couldn’t find anything that would indicate that Mingyu was about to shout, ‘Just kidding!’. He was being dead serious, albeit a bit playful.

_”You know Mingyu would be upset to see you two cuddling.”_

Jihoon’s words of warning from a few weeks ago couldn’t help but be brought to the forefront of Wonwoo’s mind. And Jihoon was right, Mingyu had always pouted almost excessively whenever there was any indication of someone besides Mingyu being interested in Wonwoo.

What Jihoon didn’t know though, was Mingyu’s actions once they got back to their shared dorm. Lets just say that Wonwoo has had some of the best sex of his life whenever Mingyu got jealous.

Unknown to probably everyone but Wonwoo, Mingyu was the possessive type. But strangely enough, instead of getting upset over the fact that someone was flirting with Wonwoo, he found it a turn on.

Mingyu had explained a few months ago about how he found it extremely sexy that others were interested in his boyfriend but only _he_ was the one that Wonwoo wanted to have sex with.

Admittedly, Wonwoo might have found the behavior a little worrisome if they hadn’t reached the level that they had together in their relationship. Like he said, when you’ve been with someone as long as they had been together, there is a level of certainty you come to that there is no one else the other would rather be with.

“I dunno Mingyu, Junhui’s cool. Lets just say for arguments sake, he _was_ flirting with me- which he isn’t- , I wouldn’t want to go playing with him like that.” Said Wonwoo, worrying his bottom lip out of habit.

Not long after Mingyu’s confession of getting off to the power play it was to have someone that others were interested in, they also started to explore the topic of other things they could experiment with in the bedroom. They had both agreed that they would be open to more unconventional tactics to get off to, but nothing was ever decided or agreed on.

But now was apparently the time to start thinking about what they were going to do.

Mingyu shrugged at Wonwoo’s statement. “Hey, if he has no qualms with flirting with someone he knows is taken, I have no problem with playing with him a bit.” Admitted Mingyu honestly.

Wonwoo couldn’t help but agree, if only a little bit. If this was Junhui trying to start something with someone he knew was taken, he couldn’t really find himself caring if Junhui got swept along with whatever consequences that action came with.

But still...

“I dunno Mingyu.. When we talked about doing something different, I was thinking more along the lines of buying a toy.”

Mingyu’s handsome face was pouting down at Wonwoo when a third text message had been received to Wonwoo’s phone. Mingyu whipped his head back to look at the device before looking back to Wonwoo, his lower lip now bitten tight between his teeth.

“Aww, come on Wonwoo... I’m getting excited just thinking about it.” Mingyu’s voice was much lower, a hint of a growl played into it, causing Wonwoo to unconsciously shiver at the implications it promised.

And to confirm his statement, Mingyu grinded his hips down hard onto Wonwoo’s own. Wonwoo raised his eyebrows in surprise, apparently Mingyu really _was_ getting off on this.

Wonwoo couldn’t help but actually consider what Mingyu was insinuating. Which was mainly Mingyu giving Wonwoo a free pass to flirt with Junhui.

Which, all in all, didn’t sound all too bad. Wonwoo had definitely taken notice to how good looking Junhui was. Not only would he get to explore a little on how it would be like to flirt with someone else besides Mingyu, he would be coming home to some amazing sex if Mingyu’s hard on was anything to go by. Plus Wonwoo was a sucker for Mingyu’s pouts.

“....Okay. But!” Shouted Wonwoo, cutting Mingyu off mid cheer. “We gotta talk limits and rules. I don’t want to accidentally do something you aren’t okay with.”

Mingyu had been nodding his head the whole time Wonwoo was talking, maybe a little too excited at the prospect of his boyfriend going to woo some other guy.

Wonwoo looked up at Mingyu, who had just shifted a bit on top of him, not letting Wonwoo forget about Mingyu’s current predicament.

“What are you okay with?”

Mingyu seemed to take this into consideration, definitely understanding the weight of what he was asking of their relationship.

“As of right now, I think I just want the flirting. If I’m not around, that’s it, just so Junhui isn’t suspicious. But if I am, I’m okay with like flirtatious touches, but that’s it for now.”

Wonwoo hummed before nodding his head. If anything, Mingyu definitely wasn’t asking too much. Plus, if he thought about it, it wasn’t even much more then what Wonwoo would have been doing with a friend he was comfortable around. But Wonwoo did take note of Mingyu use of ‘for now’.

But now that it was settled, Wonwoo let down his guard, the serious part having been dealt with.

Wonwoo then leaned forward till he was able to get one of his elbows under himself, helping him stay propped up. He then lifted his head to whisper into Mingyu’s ear.

“But why would I want Junhui when I have you right here?” Asked Wonwoo lowly, giving their new kink a small test run.

Wonwoo watched as goosebumps rose up from Mingyu’s neck. It must have gone over well with Mingyu. 

He then shifted his weight hard to the right, taking Mingyu with him, reversing their roles in one big movement, causing Wonwoo to now lay comfortably on top of Mingyu. Wonwoo then rolled his hips down into Mingyu’s own before pressing a few kisses onto Mingyu’s neck.

Mingyu couldn’t help but keen at the attention he was getting. But before Wonwoo could get too far along, he was paused by Mingyu’s voice.

“But wait.”

Wonwoo lifted his head to look at Mingyu, confusion in his eyes. Before Wonwoo could ask, Mingyu leaned to his side before reaching down to retrieve Wonwoo’s phone.

“Deal with this first.” Said Mingyu as he pressed his phone into his hand.

Wonwoo couldn’t help but roll his eyes hard before replying back to Junhui.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mingyu was playing Miitomo! Many of my friends have downloaded it so I have also fallen into the pit that is social norms.
> 
> Also for all those who don’t know, I’m HUGE Meanie trash. As in, they are my main otp and my first ever fanfic was for them! <3 Unfortunately though, I only have somehow just managed to find the opportunity to write a chapter for just the two of them?? I don’t understand it either. 
> 
> Also on another note, with this post I will no longer have a queue of chapters already written and ready to be posted, so that means I don't know how well I'll be able to keep to the schedule I've been doing. But hopefully the extra wait will be worth it since my average chapter length has been growing.. 
> 
> Last note: I have made a Twitter specifically for fanfic ranting... So come say hi to me there! @NeonNitrogen


	19. November 14th, 2015 : Seungcheol

Seungcheol pulled on his sleeves a bit, having just put on his new long sleeve shirt his mother had sent him. This year's winter was starting to really settle in, and Seungcheol hated it when he got unnecessarily cold, so he thought it would be the perfect night to wear his new present.

When Seungcheol went to put on some deodorant, he could hear his front door open from his bathroom, immediately followed by a loud, “Hurry the fuck up Seungcheol, I told you if you weren’t by the door when we arrived, we were going to leave you!”

Seungcheol sighed before rolling his eyes a bit at Soonyoung’s threat. It wasn’t his fault that they didn’t give him any warning to when they would be showing up.

He flicked the fringe of his hair a bit, trying to get it to fall perfectly, but quickly gave up since he knew it was probably going to be messed up by the time he made it to Soonyoung’s car.

When he emerged from his room, he found a stylish looking Soonyoung tapping his foot next to an equally as good looking Seokmin. It looked like he wasn’t the only one who went all out for Jackson’s party. And if Seungcheol looked closely, he could see the telltale signs of makeup on Soonyoung.

“Took you long enough.” Huffed out Soonyoung, uncrossing his arms as he turned to make his way back out of the apartment they just arrived to, his patience lost long ago.

“You could have always came in and talked to me while you waited.” Reasoned Seungcheol to an already leaving Soonyoung. It didn’t look like Soonyoung was going to stop to wait for Seungcheol to put on his shoes now that he got the go ahead to head back to his car.

Seokmin turned to send Seungcheol a pity look as he waited for him to finish putting on his shoes from the open doorway. Seungcheol was grateful that at least _someone_ had stayed behind to wait for him.

“I dunno why he’s even in a rush.. No one ever gets to parties on time anyways.” Mumbled out Seungcheol once he finally was done and locking the door behind him, Soonyoung long gone.

“I think he’s just excited since this is the first party he’s been invited to in a long time.” Said Seokmin, trying to be the voice of reason.

All Seungcheol could do was huff out a breath as he trailed along after Soonyoung. He was just grateful that Soonyoung had agreed to all of them carpooling together.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

The three of them arrived at around 9:15, and surprisingly, there was already a good amount of people milling around the house. When they entered, the three of them quickly dispensed their shoes into the growing pile near the door.

Seungcheol eyed the pile of discarded shoes, slightly concerned as to how people were going to find theirs after a few hours of drinking. He ended up putting his a little more off to the side, in hopes that his shoes would be spared from being taken accidentally.

When they made it out of the entrance hallway and into the living room, they were suddenly hit by the blaring music that was playing. The place was set up for optimal partying with the least amount of casualties to the home residences furniture. All big items had been moved to the walls, leaving a large expanse of room in the living room for people to dance. 

Not too far from the entrance was Jackson, host of the party. When he noticed Seungcheol, he patted the shoulder of the guy he had been previously talking to as a goodbye before making his way over.

When Jackson made it to him, he held out his hand for the other to clasp before pulling him in for a quick hug.

“Hey man! I haven’t seen you in ages!” Started Seungcheol, having to yell so he could be heard over the music.

“Yeah, this semester has really been kicking my ass,” Explained Jackson, equally as loud. “Which is why I thought holding a party to see everyone I hadn’t had time to see would have been in my best interest.”

Seungcheol nodded, in full agreement.

“But hey, why don’t you and your friends go get some drinks?” Questioned Jackson as he stepped to the side to give the three a better path farther into the house. “Bam Bam and Yugyeom have basically taken over the kitchen, but I’m sure they’ll be happy to make you guys something.”

At the mention of booze, Soonyoung perked up and was off in the direction he assumed was the kitchen, quickly getting swallowed up by the crowd of people milling around. Seungcheol made a mental note to watch Soonyoung to make sure he didn't get too crazy tonight.

Playing the role of gracious host, Jackson had then excused himself when he saw more people arrive at the door.

Seungcheol eyed Seokmin, who was looking in the direction that Soonyoung had just disappeared to. When Seokmin looked back at him, Seungcheol tilted his head in a way that suggested they follow.

They were able to find the kitchen quite easily, since it was basically just a straight shot from the front of the house. When Seungcheol and Seokmin made it, he spotted a familiar head of pink hair near the entrance of the kitchen.

Seungcheol’s heart thudded unexpectedly, pleasantly surprised to see Jihoon here of all places.

He made his way over, trusting that Seokmin could take care of himself, and placed a hand on the small of Jihoon’s back before leaning down to talk into his ear so he could be heard over the music.

“Didn’t expect to see you here.”

Jihoon’s head whipped towards his voice, only to relax when he realized who was talking to him. Seungcheol watched as Jihoon sent him a pleasant smile, apparently happy to see him in return.

Jihoon leaned in close, trying to talk back into Seungcheol’s ear just like how he had done for him.

“That makes two of us.”

Seungcheol raised a questioning eyebrow, which Jihoon seemed to understand without words. He then motions towards two boys who were standing only a few paces away from them. The pair had just clinked together plastic shot glasses before downing them in one go.

Seungcheol was still confused, but he was starting to put some pieces of the puzzle together on his own.

“Is that Mingyu and Wonwoo?”

Jihoon sent him his own confused look before it seemed to have dawned on him that Seungcheol had never met them before.

Jihoon grabbed at Seungcheol’s hand before pulling him farther into the kitchen, which was quieter than the living room, leaving the blaring music behind. Seungcheol looked down at the hand clasping his own, surprised by Jihoon’s boldness. He offhandedly wondered if Jihoon had partook in any drinks before Seungcheol showed up.

When they reached the two boys, they turned to look at Jihoon, the connected hands, then Seungcheol in that order.

Seungcheol raised his hand, about to introduce himself when he was caught off guard by both boys letting out a surprised yell, only to find himself suddenly squashed between the pair in a rib crushing hug.

“Oh my god! It’s _you!_ ”

“We finally get to meet our Jihoonnie’s boyfriend!”

Seungcheol couldn’t help but wiggle uncomfortably in their hold. This was definitely the first time he could say he was sandwiched between two boys who were taller than him.

“Um.”

Seungcheol looked to Jihoon, who seemed amused at Seungcheol’s predicament.

The boys then unattached themselves just as quickly as they had came, the taller one grabbing his hand before shaking it enthusiastically.

“I’m Mingyu, this is Wonwoo, and you must be Seungcheol! I’ve never seen Jihoon hold hands with anyone willingly, so you _must_ be Seungcheol!” Came the boy’s inebriated words.

Seungcheol found himself wondering just how much they had to drink already, and as to why he wasn’t on their level.

But Seungcheol couldn’t help but smile, happy to see that he was being welcomed into Jihoon’s friends arms, literally.

“Well! Now that Jihoon has someone to keep him company, we will make our leave. Have fun you two.” Said Wonwoo before grabbing Mingyu’s hand to usher him out of the kitchen with him, probably happy that they get to enjoy the party without a third wheel. 

Seungcheol looked over to Jihoon, who was wearing a smug look.

“Well, that was… something.” Said Seungcheol, not really sure how to define what had just happened into words.

“Yeah, they grow on you though.” Explained Jihoon, who was still smiling from what had just happened.

Seungcheol nodded, completely understanding. He could say the same for his friends.

Seungcheol finally got a chance to really look around the kitchen, having been thoroughly distracted by Jihoon when he walked in. 

It was fairly big, with a few people here and there with bright red cups in their hands. Seungcheol took note that Soonyoung wasn’t in the kitchen, meaning he had either came and left already, or something had held him up on his way to the kitchen.

The back of the kitchen was where most of the counter top laid, but was inaccessible to the general public since it was roped off with a piece of string, a signed taped to it saying ‘Employees Only!’

Apparently the employees were some of Jackson’s other roommates Bam Bam and Yugyeom, both of which were the only ones inside the roped off area where all the bottles of booze laid. The only way to get a drink was to go up to the peninsula counter top and ask for one.

“Did you want to get a drink?” Asked Seungcheol, smiling at how clique his sentence just sounded.

Jihoon seemed to think about it for a second before shrugging a yes.

“Hey Seungcheol!” Shouted Yugyeom unnecessarily when he saw the pair walk up. “You here for a drink?”

Seungcheol exchanged a high five with both boys, having known them for as long as he had known Jackson. Jackson was the kind of guy to be friends with almost everyone, but he was like everyone in the fact that he had a few close friends that he was always around, meaning that Seungcheol had ended up becoming acquainted with these boys somewhere along the way of knowing Jackson.

Jihoon looked at Seungcheol quizzically, caught off guard by the fact the Seungcheol knew the boys.

“Yeah, definitely. We’re down for whatever you want to make.” Came Seungcheol’s reply.

Yugyeom turned with a small salute, off to make the drinks. But Bam Bam turned his attention from Seungcheol to Jihoon.

“Could I interest your cute friend in the House Specialty?” Asked Bam Bam, tone flirtatious, but also a slightly bit slurred, signifying that he hadn’t just been pouring drinks for others the last hour.

Seungcheol raised his eyebrow in question, not sure what he was talking about. Bam Bam then tapped the counter, redirecting both Seungcheol and Jihoon’s focus there.

Taped to the counter was a piece of paper, which already had a few splashes of alcohol staining it. It read:

__

Menu:

Something Fruity

Something Hard

Fireball shots

House Specialty: Mouth Shot: $2

It definitely wasn’t very well thought out, but Seungcheol figured that it was more of a novelty item than an actual menu.

Seungcheol couldn’t help but frown. “That better not mean what I think it means.” 

Bam Bam couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Of _Alcohol_.”

“I think he’ll pass.” Answered Seungcheol for Jihoon once he realized what exactly the ‘House Specialty’ was.

“His loss.” Said Bam Bam with a shrug before turning to help someone else who had walked up to the bar, his heavy gaze now redirected to a new victim.

Yugyeom had then turned back to them, holding distinctly different drinks. In one, the liquid was a glossy amber, and the other was bright pink. Seungcheol was handed the amber one while Jihoon was handed the pink one with a wink.

“To match.” Said Yugyeom, a bright smile on his face, almost like he was laughing at the small joke he just made.

“Thanks.” Replied Jihoon dryly, no where close to being as humored as Yugyeom was.

Seungcheol sniffed his wearily. Even though Seungcheol has been described on many occasions to looking like a ‘Whiskey Dad’, he definitely wasn’t very fond of the stuff.

“Try it first! I think you’ll like it.” Spoke up Yugyeom after seeing the look on Seungcheol’s face.

“At least yours isn’t pink..” Muttered Jihoon lowly before he took his first sip of his own drink.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

After 3 more cups of Yugyeom’s Golden Nectar (Fondly named by Seungcheol himself during his second one), he was pleasantly buzzed.

It was around 11pm now, and the party was reaching its peak. The living room had filled to almost max capacity (“This is one hell of a fire hazard.” Yelled Jihoon to Seungcheol when they had returned from a drink run to the chaos. To which Seungcheol replied, “Good thing there is no fire.”), full of drunk college students jumping to whatever was playing from someone’s Ipod.

Seungcheol was currently leaning up against the wall next to the kitchen, Jihoon next to him sipping his Pretty in Pink (Also named by Seungcheol).

Seungcheol lazily let his gaze take in Jihoon, who didn’t look like he was letting himself enjoy the party as much as he should have been.

Seungcheol motioned at Jihoon’s cup with his own. “You.. How many of those have you had?” 

Jihoon looked into his cup, as if he could find the answer in there, before looking back up to Seungcheol while shrugging. Seungcheol tried not to laugh at the idea of Jihoon actually finding an answer in his cup. There was no way he would have.

“I think this is my second one?”

“What! How did I get like, double you?” Asked back Seungcheol, completely in shock that he had somehow out drank Jihoon even though they had been together this whole time.

Jihoon looked at him skeptically before shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “I wouldn’t take you for a light weight.”

Seungcheol leaned back into the wall, regaining the balance he lost from the sudden topic change. “What?? How- no- why did you, say that?”

Seungcheol was trying to connect his thoughts into words, but it wasn’t going quite as planned. Maybe he was a little farther along than just buzzed.

Seungcheol leaned over his own cup, trying to discern just _how much_ alcohol was in a Golden Nectar. It told him no answers, unlike how Jihoon’s had for him, so he looked back up, a grin on his face.

“Nah.. I just. Haven’t gotten drunk in a while is all.” Defended Seungcheol, somehow feeling a little off with the idea of Jihoon thinking he was a lightweight.

Jihoon looked up at Seungcheol, expression unreadable.

“...Right. Just. Don’t have any more for now.” Reasoned Jihoon, as he took Seungcheol’s nearly empty cup from his hand. Seungcheol chased it about half way, but gave up with a pout, knowing full well that once it got more than a half a foot away from you it was too far to retrieve.

Jihoon leaned in close to Seungcheol, making sure that he didn’t somehow not hear him over the loud music. “I’m going to look for Wonwoo and Mingyu, I haven’t seen them in a while.”

Seungcheol nodded along to Jihoon’s words. He too hadn’t seen the friends he arrived with in a while.

The last time he saw Soonyoung was maybe an hour ago, tearing up the beer pong game with one of Jackson’s other roommates, Minghao. Seungcheol had only been introduced to him once before, but Seungcheol had a way of connecting names and faces, so he was pretty sure he was thinking of the correct name.

And Seokmin…. Where has Seokmin been?

Seungcheol only half felt the light pat Jihoon had placed on his arm, signaling his departure.

Seungcheol decided that he too needed to take physical action to find his friend.

Pushing off from the wall, Seungcheol watched as the room tilted slightly. But when he stopped to look at the strange sight, it had returned to what it normally was.

Seungcheol shrugged it off as he trudged farther into the mass of bodies. There must have been at least, maybe 100 people all in just this room alone. And Seungcheol didn’t think he was overestimating either.

As Seungcheol made his way around all the other nameless people in the room, he started to sing Seokmin’s name to whatever tune was playing over the giant speaker someone must have borrowed from the school, because who would actually own something that big? Where would they put it when they weren’t using it?

Seungcheol was debating whether or not it would make a good night stand when out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something familiar. He couldn’t quite name what it was, but the flash he saw just outside his field of conscious vision called to him.

Seungcheol turned his trajectory a sharp 90 degrees, heading straight for what had just flashed him the feeling of familiarity.

The people were packed densely in the center of the room, but started to thin the father out of the middle Seungcheol went. The image he saw was near but was being obscured by the constant movement of bodies around him. Seungcheol could feel himself sway as he made his way, flowing to the movement of people. When he reached to almost the outer layer of people, Seungcheol found himself frozen in his spot.

Leaning up against a wall, just like how he had been doing not 5 minutes ago, was Jeonghan.

And what a sight it was. Pretty Jeonghan had sometime since the last time Seungcheol saw him (7 months and 21 days) changed his hair. Which wasn’t all too surprising to Seungcheol, since the boy had often dyed it. The more surprising aspect had been the length. Even though it was still long for society's standards of beauty on men (Fuck society), it was shorter than the usual length Jeonghan kept it at.

He was sipping on his own cup (Was he drinking a Golden Nectar or a Pretty in Pink? He felt a Pretty in Pink would suit Jeonghan better), casually scanning the mass of bodies Seungcheol was still a part of.

Seungcheol couldn’t tell if he was lucky or not that it looked like Jeonghan hadn’t spotted him.

But thanks to 4 Golden Nectars under Seungcheol’s belt, he was starting to lean towards unlucky. Why hadn’t they seen each other in such a long time? Jeonghan had always been so funny when they were dating. Even before they were, which was the reason why Jeonghan had drawn Seungcheol in the first place.

Just when Seungcheol had half formed the thought of making his presence known to the other, an unfamiliar boy was sliding up to Jeonghan’s side, causing the angel of a boy to grin wide at the newcomer.

This boy was equally as pretty, hair short and messy, but definitely in a ‘I worked for 10 full minutes to get it to look this way’ messy rather than a ‘fresh out the shower, imma just going to towel dry it and let it do what it pleases’ messy.

The newcomer’s eyes somehow sparkled in the low lighting of the living room, catching what little amount there was.

He then leaned over to whisper into Jeonghan’s ear before pulling back to smile down at him.

In that moment, Seungcheol realized exactly who the newcomer was.

Jeonghan’s new boyfriend. Or more specifically, the boy Jeonghan had dumped Seungcheol for.

And here, Seungcheol realized. How could he have ever thought Jeonghan would have stayed when he could have _that_.

They were the spitting image of a power couple, far more beautiful than 90% of the people in the room without even trying. And when Jeonghan once again directed one of those heart stopping smiles to his boyfriend, something Seungcheol had use to be on the receiving end of, he could almost feel his heart breaking all over again. A ghost pain from the past that Seungcheol was sure he had forgotten.

__Memories of The Night came spilling into the forefront of his mind’s eye. Somehow it was in 3rd person, but Seungcheol wasn’t about to question why that was a thing when the scene before him was all too distracting._ _

__Jeonghan had asked to come over. There was no warning bells nor anything out of the ordinary of the request to have warned Seungcheol to the oncoming heart break. When he arrived, he hadn’t taken off his shoes, something Seungcheol had realized Jeonghan would do when he didn’t plan on staying long._ _

__Maybe that had been Seungcheol’s first warning sign. But he didn’t realize the warning in the gesture until all was over and done with._ _

__And Jeonghan had looked oh so pretty that day. There wasn’t a day that had gone by that Seungcheol didn’t think that. But the words that were coming out of his pretty mouth were oh so ugly.. So ugly that they tore deep into Seungcheol’s heart before he could even realize what was happening._ _

__The phantom wounds on Seungcheol’s heart were starting to feel a little too real now. Seungcheol brought his hand up to clench at his shirt, grasping where he could feel the reopening wounds on his heart._ _

__Seungcheol had to swallow deeply when the pair exchanged another meaningful look before Jeonghan had reached up and pulled his boyfriend to him, connecting their lips._ _

Seungcheol _had_ to look away then. It was almost like the pair had known he was watching and wanted to inflict as much damage as they could without even acknowledging his presence.

And in that moment, Seungcheol realized he was too tipsy to deal with this. But one quick glance to the kitchen reminded him that he didn’t have to be.

He could be drunk and dealing with this. And a Golden Nectar sounded like the perfect companion.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

The room was spinning to the pace of the music. Nothing seemed to stay where it was suppose to be until he physically grabbed it. It was just a matter of if he could catch it first.

After about a good 3 attempts, Seungcheol had finally grabbed a hold on the wall (This one was feisty). Seungcheol went to lean up against it, but ended up landing on it with a heavy thud, the wall being much farther than he initially thought it was.

Seungcheol tilted his cup up to his mouth, only to see that someone must have taken it when he was playing with the wall, his hand now empty even though his cup had been there only a second ago.

Dejected, Seungcheol let his arm fall heavily back to his side when he felt someone grip his shoulder.

“Ah shit, Seungcheol?”

Seungcheol turned to the voice, which was somewhere above him. He was confused for a few seconds until he realized that he had somehow slid down the wall and was now sitting on the floor.

Pink. There was pink flitting at the edges of Seungcheol’s eyesight, even though he was trying as hard as he could to focus. But pink could only mean one thing.

“Jihoonnie? Is that you? I think… I think I’ve made a mista- ake. Somewhere.” He then processed to check his body for said mistake, but ended up coming back empty handed.

“Oh man… Okay. Who did you come here with?” Came Jihoon’s voice again. And what a pretty voice it was. It was just so soothing, and not ugly. Such a sweet voice could never be ugly.

“Oh my sweet soothing Jihoon. Come here so I can. Pat you.” Seungcheol reached towards where he was _pretty_ sure Jihoon was, but somehow missed at the last second.

His shoulders were now in a tight grip, forcing his attention to Jihoon’s face.

“Please pay attention Seungcheol. Who drove you here? Did you drive?” Jihoon’s face looked worried, albeit a bit fuzzy, but worried none the less. Seungcheol didn’t like it.

He reached up to smooth out the crease between his eyebrows. “Shh, no. Why wouldn’t I pay attention to you? You. Are so pretty. And wonderful. And you _actually_ seem like you might. Wanna. Be here. My pretty in pink.”

Seungcheol was vaguely aware that he was rambling and not making any sense, but that thought was gone the second another one had popped up.

“Can we be boyfriends? I. Would like that a lot...” Mumbled off Seungcheol.

“We already are you numbskull. How could you forget?” And there. Right there at the end of Jihoon’s words. Seungcheol picked up on a slight hint of humor in his voice. And wow, did he just say they were already boyfriends?

“Woww.. Oh wow.” The realization hit Seungcheol’s muddled mind hard. Jihoon was his boyfriend? Jihoon _liked_ him enough to be his boyfriend? It was almost overwhelming the idea that this beautiful boy had just told him that they were dating. 

But Seungcheol's mind couldn't stay happy long, reminded as to why he was so drunk in the first place. But why would anyone actually want to date _him_? Now he was starting to feel bad for pretty Jihoonnie.

“...I’m sorry.” 

Jihoon sent him a bewildered look before rubbing his hands over Seungcheol’s shoulders reassuringly. 

“No, don’t be sorry, this is partially my fault for leaving you alone.” Seungcheol half realized that Jihoon had misunderstood what he was sorry for. Before he could try and explain himself, Jihoon’s image had blurred a bit before it settled somewhere near his side. Jihoon had then grabbed onto Seungcheol’s arm, slinging it over his shoulders before starting to hoist Seungcheol up off the ground. 

Seungcheol only slightly registered what Jihoon was trying to do, but all he could think of was Jihoon’s heat tucked nicely into his side and how the world was moving a little too fast for his mind to keep up with. He ended up squeezing his eyes shut, willing away the sudden onslaught of nausea that came with the movement. 

It wasn’t until he was fully back on his feet and still for a good 5 seconds that Seungcheol was finally able to open his eyes again, the world having righted enough to allow him to do so. 

“Did you drive?” Came Jihoon’s smooth voice again, but this time, so much closer to Seungcheol’s ear. Seungcheol was lulled into a sense of security because of it, almost forgetting that Jihoon had just asked a question, thus requiring him to have to answer. But a small squeeze to Seungcheol's arm from Jihoon reminded him.

“Noo… No. Soonyoung. He drove.” Answered Seungcheol as best he could. He was finally realizing that Jihoon was trying to take care of him. His poor pretty boyfriend Jihoon had to take care of his ridiculously drunk boyfriend because he couldn’t get his shit together. It almost drew tears to his eyes, with how much of a wreck he had become only to force Jihoon to have to take care of him. 

Seungcheol tried to unattach himself from Jihoon then, not wanting to burden him more than he already was. 

“Oh no you don’t. You can barely stand on your own.” Came Jihoon’s stern words. He then hitched Seungcheol’s arm a little more over his shoulder before Jihoon’s other arm came around to wrap tightly onto Seungcheol’s waist, shouldering nearly all of Seungcheol’s weight onto himself.

“But.. No. I don’t want to be a burden. I don’t want you to leave.” Said Seungcheol, words borderline pleading with Jihoon. He wanted Jihoon to understand that he knew that this was a horrible mistake. That Jihoon should just get out while he could, since Seungcheol had nothing to offer him as a boyfriend besides being a burden. 

Seungcheol's twisting mind was stirring up too many emotions at once, causing tears to sting at his eyes. But like hell was Seungcheol about to add crying to the list of embarrassing activities he had just done in front of Jihoon. Both the emotional turmoil and the will to hold back his tears caused the nausea to come back two fold. The only thing Seungcheol could do was squeeze his eyes shut and hope for the best.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to leave you here. I’m taking you back to my place, yours is a little too far to walk to..” Said Jihoon before taking a few steps forward with Seungcheol’s dead weight burdening him. “But you’re going to have to help me a bit if we’re going to make it.” 

Why wasn’t Jihoon understanding anything that Seungcheol was trying to tell him? Seungcheol wanted to try and explain to Jihoon that this was too much. That he didn’t need to take care of him. That he could be left at the house for all he cared, just so he wouldn’t be burdening Pretty Jihoon. 

But all Seungcheol really could do in his current state was help as much as he could with walking, since Jihoon had asked so nicely. At least he was helping out some how.

Seungcheol’s spinning mind wasn’t taking in much at this point. He was vaguely aware that he had boasted to Jihoon about how his shoes were the ones in the far corner of the front room, since he had the forethought of putting them off to the side, proud that it made finding his all that much easier for Jihoon.

Then he was hit by the cold, signifying that they had made it outside. But Seungcheol couldn’t complain about the sudden onslaught of cold since Jihoon’s heat pressed up against him was all he needed. 

The walk back ended up being a huge blur to Seungcheol. The world felt like it was trying to trip him up, spinning all that much faster if he tried to look around. All Seungcheol ended up doing the whole walk to Jihoon’s place was focus _really_ hard on his feet so that he wouldn’t end up falling over on the way.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

Warm.

All Seungcheol could really feel was warmth. His body felt at peace when he was lead to a bed so that he could flop onto it. It felt almost too amazing now that he no longer had to walk. 

The bed he was lying in was small but comfortable. Seungcheol was aware that he wasn’t alone, since he could hear someone moving around the room.

But why couldn’t he see them? It took a few seconds, but Seungcheol realized that his eyes were closed. When he finally found the will to get them to open, he saw his Pretty Jihoon getting into a different bed. 

“No.. Come here.” Came Seungcheol’s deep voice, weighed down by his exhaustion. All he wanted to do now was sleep, but he also wanted Jihoon to be close. His arms were spread wide, waiting for Jihoon to come into them.

“I’m just going to sleep in Junhui’s bed tonight.” Said Jihoon, voice equally as low. 

“But, we’re boyfriends.” Explained Seungcheol, like that was all that needed to be said to convince Jihoon that sleeping together was the best idea. 

And apparently it _was_ all that he needed to say, since after only waiting about 10 seconds with his arms still wide, Seungcheol felt the bed shift down with Jihoon’s added weight coming onto it. Seungcheol was quick to snap his arms together, almost like he had caught Jihoon into his trap, before pulling the smaller boy in close to snuggle into, rubbing his head up against Jihoon’s own. 

Seungcheol could feel Jihoon struggling a bit in his tight hold, but Seungcheol was too tired and still way too drunk to be bothered by it.

All he knew was that he felt the all encompassing warmth spread to his heart when Jihoon had finally found a comfortable spot tucked deeply into Seungcheol before he finally let the sleep that had been beckoning him take over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW. Who knew that I would be writing so much for this chapter??? I told you guys the party chapters were going to be long.. And we’ve only hit the tip of the iceberg! 
> 
> But man, writing things from a drunk perspective was definitely a challenge..
> 
> And sorry to have teased you guys with Seungcheol POV! But hopefully we will finally get the JiCheol moments we really want from Jihoon’s POV since he’s not the one drunk..
> 
> Also, Jeonghan’s new hair got me feeling things to of course I was going to add it to the story.


	20. November 14th, 2015 : Junhui

Junhui twisted his fingers, not really sure what he was doing with his life anymore. He was presently sitting on Minghao’s bed, owner of said bed off somewhere in the house.

Currently, it was only a few hours before Jackson’s party was scheduled to start. Minghao had said something about having to secure all his things from around the house, so that none of it either got broken or snatched during the party. 

But Junhui wasn’t really paying all that much attention. His thoughts were effectively somewhere else, not really caring about Minghao’s stuff. He was thinking back to what he had agreed to do a few days ago. 

He’s not really sure why he allowed Minghao to convince him to go ahead with Mission: Home Wrecker. 

Or at least, that’s what he kept telling himself. But unfortunately for Junhui, he knew that _deep down_ he actually did want to do it. Minghao was just giving him a convenient excuse so that he could have someone else to blame if this all went to shit.

So when Minghao had brought up the idea _yet again_ , Junhui could feel his resolve to be a good person crumble. And when Minghao had caught wiff of Junhui finally giving in, he started to spout off all the plans he had being formulating and how exciting this was and yatta yatta. 

Junhui wanted to be mad at Minghao for knowing that ultimately Junhui would cave. The only reason Minghao would have put so much thought into it already would be because he knew he would eventually crack, it had just been a matter of wearing down his defenses.

But Junhui also couldn’t help but feel weary at how excited Minghao was at the idea.

After he started to explain to Junhui all the plans he had, he realized that Minghao was putting himself in an active role to carry out said plans. _Minghao_ was to be the one to get Wonwoo’s number for him, so it wouldn’t ‘arouse suspicion’. _Minghao_ was the one to invite the pair to the party. _Minghao_ would be the one to distract Mingyu so Junhui could swoop in and flirt with Wonwoo while he was under the influence of alcohol at the party.

Junhui voiced many of his concerns to Minghao about his plans. Like what was his excuse going to be to start texting Wonwoo? How was he suppose to know that Minghao could even distract Mingyu well enough so he wouldn’t end up getting punched in the face for flirting with his boyfriend? Why did they have to do it at the party? 

To which Minghao had been not only forthcoming, but eager to answer all of Junhui’s questions. 

“You’re having fun with this, aren’t you?” Asked Junhui after Minghao had finished explaining in detail how he was going to get Wonwoo’s number for him.

Minghao turned to him with a smile brightening his features. “Of course! It’s not everyday that I get to participate in something so entertaining.” 

And Junhui _really_ wanted to hate Minghao when he got like this. When his regard for other people was overshadowed by anything he found ‘entertaining’. 

But Junhui really couldn’t blame the boy, since he too latched onto anything he found entertaining, even if it was at the expense of other people. Junhui figured that most of his agitation with all this was because Minghao was using _Junhui_ for his entertainment, knowing full well that he would be drastically less annoyed if Minghao was doing this to someone else.

But Junhui figured that his only solace in all this was that he was the main factor. If he didn’t want to proceed, he didn’t have to. Minghao was only doing the side work, and whether or not Junhui acted on what Minghao had set up for him would determine the outcome. Just because Minghao _got_ Wonwoo’s number doesn’t mean Junhui had to text him. And whether or not Junhui decided to make use of Minghao distracting Mingyu was completely up to him.

But Junhui wouldn’t be Junhui if he let Minghao be the only one who found some entertainment out of all of this. 

Half way through Minghao explaining just how he was going to get Mingyu’s attention, Junhui had an idea. And idea that Junhui knew was solely for his entertainment.

“But wait,” Started Junhui, cutting Minghao off mid sentence. “How can I trust that you’ll be able to effectively distract Mingyu long enough so he doesn’t come back to his boyfriend and see me flirting with him?”

Minghao had sent him a sour look at that. “You don’t think I can do it?” 

Junhui just shook his head while shrugging, trying to school his features to look nonchalant. “It’s not a matter of if I think you can do it, I just want you to prove that you _can_ do it.” 

Minghao couldn’t help but give him a weary look at that, knowing full well that Junhui had something in mind. “....And how do you want me to prove it?” 

Junhui wanted to try and keep the shit eating grin off his face, but honestly, he didn’t try all that hard. Junhui knew full well that Minghao wanted to take an active role in Mission: Home Wrecker, meaning that he would do a lot of things just so he could stay an active member in executing the plan. So getting him to take the bait hadn’t been all that hard.

“At the party. Before we implement the mission, I want you to distract someone of my choosing for a full hour, just so I know you can do it with a stranger.” Explained Junhui, kinda just coming up with the idea on the fly. 

But Junhui mainly wanted to make Minghao work a little bit for his amusement before it flipped to Junhui working hard for Minghao’s amusement. And ultimately, like Junhui knew he would, Minghao agreed, not thinking it was such a horrible request to ‘prove’ to Junhui he could handle doing his part in the mission. 

So for the past few days, Junhui had been texting Wonwoo on and off. And surprisingly, it was going a lot better then Junhui had originally thought it would. Sure, texting with the excuse of homework help was the oldest trick in the book, but Junhui didn’t really care for the clicheness of it since it actually worked. 

Wonwoo and Junhui had always had a very surface friendship, being cordial, even borderline friendly, whenever Wonwoo was around Junhui. They talked when they were together, but would never think of actually going out of the way to become anything closer than that. Well, until now. 

And if Wonwoo’s positive reaction wasn’t encouragement enough for Junhui to finally think that, yeah, this crazy dumb ass plan might actually work out, Junhui didn’t know what would. 

Wonwoo had even ended up texting him first only a few days after Junhui’s initial text to him. It was boosting Junhui’s ego tremendously, and made him wonder as to just _why_ he hadn’t thought of doing this sooner.

Minghao opened the door to his room, arms full of alcohol bottles, effectively catching Junhui’s attention. 

“But why?” Asked Junhui, wondering how he had managed to open the door with his arms full.

Minghao shut the door firmly with his back, arms too preoccupied. 

“Jackson told me that I should hide my stuff if I didn’t want it to get drunk.” Came Minghao’s soft explanation as he crossed the room to a pile of clothes on the floor before dropping the bottles onto the pile. 

Junhui nodded before laying back on Minghao’s bed, simultaneously reaching for his phone so he could check the time. There was still 2 more hours until the party ‘started’, but Junhui knew that the house wouldn’t have a decent crowd until a few hours after the designated starting time. 

Minghao came over and sat next to Junhui, noticing Junhui check the time.

“Nervous?” Came Minghao’s voice, a bit teasing. 

Junhui closed his eyes before rolling them, not wanting Minghao to see. “I should be asking you that, since you’re the one who has to prove that you’ll be useful.”

Minghao crossed his arms before letting out an over dramatic huff. “I don’t understand why you doubt me, you’ve witnessed my acting skills.” 

“Oh, I don’t doubt them,” Said Junhui as he sat back up, not liking to be in such a vulnerable position with Minghao so close. “I just want to make sure you can keep someone distracted so I don’t get beat up. It’s different since my welfare is on the line.” Junhui was really grasping for straws here, but he wasn’t about to let Minghao know that this was a bullshit idea just for kicks, hoping to see Minghao at least make a small fool of himself.

“...Whatever.” 

Junhui looked at Minghao’s neutral expression, and he got the distinct feeling that Minghao was catching on to him but wasn’t about to risk the chance of Junhui pulling out of the mission completely. 

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Teased Junhui as he leaned his head in to lay on Minghao’s shoulder. “For all you know, this small mission to prove yourself could be fun.”

Minghao just left out a small puff of a laugh, dropping the subject, before leaning his head over onto Junhui’s own. Minghao had always been a sucker for skinship.

\----------------------------------------------------------

About an hour into the party, Minghao and Junhui had set up residence in the entrance to the hallway that lead to all the rooms in the house.

It was their stake out spot, and Junhui was looking for the perfect prey. He wanted to pick someone who he knew would be hard for Minghao to distract, not wanting to make the game easy for him. 

His eyes scanned the crowd of people, taking in a few interactions, judging if they would be a good candidate or not.

Junhui watched as two boys, maybe a year or two younger then him, as they messed with the aux cord that was connected to the giant speaker being used to fill the house with music. They seemed to have been arguing over who was going to get to plug in their phone next, effectively having full control over the party music. 

The younger of the two looked like he might have been a handful for Minghao, looking like someone who might have a hard time focusing on one thing at a time. But ultimately Junhui decided against him, since he had in mind someone who looked like they would _really_ be a challenge. 

Junhui felt a tap on his shoulder. “How about her?” Asked Minghao, discreetly pointing off to Junhui’s left. 

Junhui saw the girl Minghao was referring too, she was dancing quite dangerously, already seeming to have gotten drunk. Or that could have just been how she was, Junhui really didn’t know for sure. 

She was with a group of three others girls, who were dancing just as wildly as the first girl, and Junhui considered it for a second. It really would have been funny to watch Minghao try to find an excuse to get the girl away from her friends, but Junhui decided against it. He was trying to have some fun with Minghao, not turn him into the school’s creep. 

He shook his head so Minghao could see that he disapproved.

10 minutes had passed, and Junhui was starting to think that maybe he should just go with the girl, since he had yet to find anyone suitable and Minghao was starting to get impatient. 

It was when Junhui was thinking that going with the girl would be fine, since Minghao looked too unthreatening to be labeled a creep, when _he_ walked by. 

The boy had dirty blond hair, a bomber jacket that suited him well, and a dead set stare that looked like it could hurt if you were in the direct path of it. The last part was what really sealed the deal for Junhui, but having the boy look like he was in a hurry had been a nice bonus.

“There! Him right there!’ Shouted Junhui in his excitement, not wanting Minghao to miss the boy who had just strode by them.

“Really?!” Asked Minghao, who was pushing away from the wall, looking back to Junhui with a slightly scared expression. Junhui wanted to laugh at how perfect this was, not only did the boy who just walked by look like he was on a mission, it had caught Minghao off guard, not allowing the boy to come up with a plan of action. 

“Hurry! Before he get’s away!” Called Junhui, all the while motioning for Minghao to pick up the pace because the boy was already almost to the kitchen and the deal had been to get the boy away from the main living space and into Minghao’s room. It was there that he had to keep someone occupied for an hour before Junhui would let Minghao graduate up to distracting Mingyu.

When Minghao asked why he had to keep the person in his room for the duration of the time, Junhui explained that this was going to the hardest case scenario. If he could pass this, then distracting Mingyu would be a breeze.

Junhui held in his snickers when he watched Minghao jog over the blonde before grabbing onto his elbow, effectively catching the boy’s attention. 

Junhui walked over to the two at a slower pace, keeping himself off to the side, not wanting to get involved but wanting to over hear whatever excuse Minghao would come up with to get the boy to follow him. 

Junhui found a nice spot only a few feet away, just slightly out of the way so that it wouldn’t be obvious that we was eavesdropping.

“..Hey.” Said Minghao lamely. Junhui restrained himself from face palming. Maybe his idea of catching Minghao off guard had worked _too_ well.

“Hey?” Asked back the boy, obviously not sure why Minghao had stopped him.

“I was just wondering,” Spoke up Minghao, voice reflecting Minghao’s hardened resolve. “Why were you in such a rush to all by yourself? Come here alone?”

And was Junhui picking up on a slight flirtatious note? Junhui shook his head, biting his lower lip hard to keep the smile off his face. If that wasn’t the most creepy pickup line, Junhui didn't know what creepy was.

“..I came here with some friends.” Replied the boy, who had just then pulled his arm out of Minghao’s grip, looking a little more on guard. 

Junhui watched as Minghao lifted his hands up in surrender, showing the boy that he was harmless with his body language. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to come off as strong. You just really caught me off guard and I didn’t want to miss you.”

Junhui had to give points to Minghao, at least he wasn’t lying when he said that. But now Junhui had his hands over his face, looking through his fingers at the train wreak this was becoming. 

This was the best idea Junhui had in months! 

The boy looked at Minghao, who looked like he was trying to size up what Minghao was about. Minghao must have noticed, since now he was sending the boy one of his most unthreatening smiles. 

“Did you just get here? How about we get you a drink?” 

At the mention of alcohol, the boy seemed to have forgotten his earlier weariness of Minghao. He now looked curious, definitely on board with the idea.

Said boy then started to head in the direction of the kitchen, but once again, Minghao had caught him by his elbow.

“Oh, you don’t want something from there. I actually live here, so I ended up hiding all the good stuff in my room.” 

“You’re one of Jackson’s roommates?” Asked the boy, his voice mainly curious with only a hint of skepticism. But the boy must have deduced Minghao to being harmless, since he was now letting Minghao guide him in the opposite direction, back to the hallway. 

Minghao nodded to the boy before sending Junhui a quick glance, to which Junhui sent an encouraging thumbs up, surprised that Minghao had gotten this far, having initially looked like a disaster.

Junhui followed after once the pair disappeared into the hallway, taking up his position again at the entrance of the hallway, now playing guard duty. He wasn’t about to just take Minghao’s word whether or not he had kept the boy occupied for the full hour.

\----------------------------------------------------------

An hour and a half had now passed, and Junhui was starting to get impatient.

Earlier, he had seen both Wonwoo and Mingyu walk by, too distracted to notice Junhui lurking in the hallway. 

Junhui was just about to turn and bust into Minghao’s room to break up whatever was happening in there, when Junhui was stopped by someone calling to him.

“Junhui! I was hoping to run into you sometime tonight.” Came Wonwoo’s deep, albeit a bit slurred, voice. 

Junhui looked up, greeted to the smiling faces of Wonwoo and Mingyu, who was standing a little bit behind the former.

“Hey Wonwoo, Mingyu.” Greeted back Junhui, voice as calm as possible. But on the inside, he was a mess. Where was Minghao?? He was going to miss his chance to implement the plan tonight. This was becoming a best case scenario, Wonwoo looking thoroughly tipsy, minus Minghao not being there to distract Mingyu.

Both boy’s looked like they had been drinking steadily for the past few hours, both pairs of cheeks flushed from the alcohol. The pink to Wonwoo’s cheeks only seemed to highlight his natural features, causing Junhui’s breath to get stuck in this throat for a second. 

“So why are you hanging out in the hallway instead of enjoying the party?” Asked Wonwoo conversationally. Which Junhui would have been hugely grateful for if Minghao would _leave his room_. 

“Not really feeling it tonight.” Came Junhui’s smooth explanation, accented with a casual shrug. 

“Man, that always sucks.” Replied back Wonwoo, sounding genuinely downtrodden at the news.

Junhui watched as Mingyu looked behind him before leaning down to Wonwoo’s ear, whispering something Junhui couldn’t catch. When Mingyu pulled back, Wonwoo sent a surprised look to Mingyu, their connected eyes communicating something between them.

After a few seconds, Wonwoo seemed to have found his answer, since he sent a small nod to Mingyu, who broke out in a huge smile. 

Mingyu then looked back to Junhui before sending him a wave, turning to leave. 

Junhui couldn’t help but look stunned at the turn of events. Mingyu had just left Wonwoo with Junhui, alone, without Junhui having to do anything to prompt the boys departure.

Wonwoo was back to his earlier smiles, full attention on Junhui. For some reason, Junhui wanted to squirm under the gaze, completely caught off guard now that he had Wonwoo’s undivided attention, no gimmicks attached.

It was then that Junhui had the thought. He could do this without Minghao. Mingyu had just made himself scarce all on his own, obviously finding no threat in Junhui. A small part of Junhui wanted to give Mingyu something to feel threatened about. 

It was with that thought that Junhui could feel himself slip into his flirtatious persona, the one he took on when he knew he was in control and all actions were controlled and deliberate. 

Junhui tilted his head in faked curiosity. “Where did Mingyu just run off to?” 

“Nowhere important.” Said Wonwoo, voice low and final, leaving no room for Junhui to ask again about Mingyu, not like he wanted to. 

Junhui hummed, completely in agreement, when he was interrupted by Minghao’s door _finally_ opening. Junhui and Wonwoo turned to look, but no one exited immediately. Junhui was half a step into checking on it when the blond boy came stumbling out, laughing his ass off. He caught his balance on the wall opposite of the door before turning to look back into the room, back flat against the wall. 

“Hao Hao~~” Came the boy’s voice, deeply drunk and overly playful. Junhui watched as Minghao then emerged, a black tie wrapped around his eyes, blindfolding the boy. 

“Soonyoung~” Called back Minghao, grin widening when he heard the barely constrained giggles of the blond boy. Minghao then swept his arm in a wide arch, barely missing the boy who was able to duck out of the way at the last second.

The blond then ran past Junhui and Wonwoo, barely sparing them a glance as he turned back to the hallway, calling out another, “Hao Hao!”

Junhui watched in near horror as Minghao then turned and made his way towards the boy's voice, using the wall as a guide. 

Junhui and Wonwoo stepped to the side, allowing Minghao to pass without him accidentally bumping into them, chasing after the constantly giggling boy.

“....Were they playing Marco Polo?” Asked Junhui, still in slight shock of what he just witnessed. He was now painfully aware that he was probably the only sober one in the house, since no one even spared a glance at the pair who were doing what looked like a bad dance around each other. 

“That seems dangerous.” Was Wonwoo’s only comment.

“Man.. I need to get drunk.” Muttered Junhui, holding his head with his hand, temporarily forgetting that he was trying to seduce Wonwoo. 

Junhui was reminded again of Wonwoo’s presence when his hand landed on his shoulder, catching his attention. “We should work on that then.” Came Wonwoo’s voice, much closer than Junhui would have thought necessary. 

Junhui looked to Wonwoo, falling back into the persona that he lost, one of his most charming smiles now set on his face.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Junhui was feeling _good_. He hadn’t felt his spirits this high in a while, drunk both off the booze and his good mood. Together, it was a fantastic combination.

Wonwoo was sitting close, the both of them having moved to Minghao’s room to steal the alcohol that he had in his room. There was significantly less in the bottles from what Junhui remembered from earlier that day, but that was to be expected from the state he and his friend were in when Junhui saw them when they left the room. 

When Junhui suggested they go into Minghao’s room to get away from the crowd and to have their own supply of alcohol, Wonwoo was surprisingly on board with the idea. Junhui wasn’t sure if he should have taken it as a good or a bad sign, but he wasn’t about to not take all that he was getting from Wonwoo.

Junhui leaned his head back, laying it onto Minghao’s bed, which he was leaning up against. Wonwoo was sat next to him, so close that their thighs were touching, both comfortable with the proximity. 

They had been drinking for probably an hour now, enjoying each other’s company as they drank straight from the bottles. There was a lull in the conversation, but the silence between them was a comfortable one. 

Wonwoo had just received a text, his phone notification going off, breaking the comfortable silence they were sitting in.

Junhui figured it was Mingyu, since it had been a while now since the boy had left Wonwoo’s side, probably looking for him. 

He watched as Wonwoo pulled out his phone before pocketing it straight after seeing who it was. 

“Not answering?” Questioned Junhui, too drunk to have a filter.

“Nah.” Was Wonwoo’s prompt reply, not giving away any more information than necessary. 

“Was it Mingyu?” And there it was again, his non-filter. Junhui would have kicked himself if he was in the right mind.

Luckily, Wonwoo didn’t seem like he was bothered but Junhui’s prying.

“Yeah, but I don’t want him to find me yet.”

Junhui’s proceeding smile felt a little too wide, but he didn’t do anything about it. He then switched his head from leaning back to leaning over onto Wonwoo’s shoulder, a much more preferable spot in his opinion. 

“Aww, you like my company that much?” Teased Junhui. He figured he might as well take advantage of his drunk state, allowing himself to fall back on the excuse that he was drunk if this interaction went to hell.

“I like a lot of things about you.” Came Wonwoo’s soft words. 

Junhui couldn’t help but pull his head up from where it laid to look at Wonwoo, surprise evident on his face. He leaned in, allowing one of his legs to fall over and rest onto Wonwoo’s own, face close. He couldn’t believe the words Wonwoo just spoke, words a little too sweet in his ears.

Wonwoo’s eyes were beautiful in the low lighting, something Junhui had taken note of before, but was never able to obverse at such a close proximity. And it might have been the alcohol in his system, or the heavy atmosphere of being in a room they had no right to be in, drinking booze they probably shouldn’t have been, but Junhui felt something pass between them in that moment. 

And suddenly Junhui thought, why hadn’t he tried doing this sooner? Why would he have thought for even a second that Wonwoo would have been someone he could pass up? 

The boy was everything Junhui had ever wanted out of someone. A deep voice that was so smooth, a personality witty with just the right kind of humor, features sharp and handsome. And here he was, getting the opportunity he never thought he would get, just because he finally allowed himself to take what he felt he deserved. 

And maybe Wonwoo had finally come to that realization too. Here he was, the one who _initiated_ this whole thing, giving Junhui the attention he wanted. Junhui would go as low as to say that Wonwoo had been _flirting_ with him all night.

This was almost too good to be true. 

Before Junhui could even think of a response, a little too lost in Wonwoo’s eyes and too deep in his mind, trying to decode what Wonwoo meant by his words, Minghao’s door was being pushed open.

Both boys looked up from their spot on the floor, too drunk to move away from each other like they probably _should_ have, to see Jihoon standing in the doorway. His expression read as irritated, but with a slight tinge of worry to it. 

Standing directly behind him was Mingyu, facial expression unreadable. Something Junhui wasn’t able to realize in the moment should have sent off warning bells in his mind. But the alcohol in his system had severely lowered his reading abilities, letting the fact that Mingyu looking unfazed by what he had stumbled upon was probably a bad sign.

Wonwoo and Junhui must have been a sight, both sitting in the nearly dark room, only a side lamp as their lighting, sitting way too close to be viewed as just friendly. 

Before either could really process what this might have looked like to them, Jihoon was moving forward, facial expressions betraying that he definitely didn’t think this rendezvous was just a friendly get together. 

Mingyu followed the boy into the room, taking up his spot at Wonwoo’s side, helping his boyfriend off the floor. 

Jihoon had taken to Junhui’s side, maybe because he felt some sick sort of responsibility to be there since they were roommates, feeling that Junhui would need someone on his side for what was to come.

But Junhui could see the look on Jihoon’s face, not needing to be sober to decipher it. He was _not_ happy with what he just walked in on. 

But it seemed like both Mingyu and Jihoon were sober enough to not bring up what they just witnessed at present (Junhui nearly sitting in Wonwoo’s lap, their faces too close to be written off). Mingyu had just intertwined his fingers with Wonwoo’s own, probably in a show that said to Junhui just _who_ Wonwoo was actually dating, before turning to leave without exchanging any words. 

After watching the couple leave, neither boys sparing a glance behind them, Jihoon finally spoke up. 

“We’re going to talk about this later, when you aren’t drunk off your ass.”

\----------------------------------------------------------

Junhui found himself in the kitchen, desperately needed some water to fight the cotton mouth he was getting from dehydration.

The party was finally winding down, only a few stragglers here and there, some too drunk to make it home on their own, some just still trying to party even though the music had been turned off long ago and most of the attendees gone.

Junhui had taken to holing himself up in Minghao’s room up until now, having not been in the mood to party from the get go, only showing up in hopes to initiate the plan. Jihoon had left him right after the couple did, knowing that Junhui was no longer in need of him around and having fulfilled whatever he had come to Minghao’s room to do in the first place. 

Junhui had a lot of time to come down from his high, taking the time to go over everything that had exchanged between him and Wonwoo. It was almost like a dream, the hour he had spent with Wonwoo drinking and enjoying each other’s company. 

Junhui was desperate for more. 

Junhui was downing one of the many bottles of water that were in the refrigerator when Minghao walked into the kitchen. This was the first time Junhui had seen him since the hallway fiasco, having figured the boy had passed out somewhere in the house. 

Minghao looked half dead, his eyes drooping almost to the point of being closed. When Minghao made it to Junhui’s side, he wordlessly offered his half drunken bottle of water, Minghao looked like he needed it more than he did. 

The boy ended up downing the rest in one go, looking grateful when he was done.

When Minghao was walking over the recycling bin, already overflowing with empty beer bottles and other water bottles, Junhui noticed the telltale signs of bruises lining Minghao’s neck. 

“Holy shit, who gave you those.” Spoke Junhui, shattering the silence in the kitchen in an abrupt manner. It caused Minghao to flinch slightly, not expecting something so loud at 4 in the morning. 

“I’m not sure.” Whispered Minghao, keeping his voice down to a respectable volume for the late hour.

Junhui couldn’t help but clasp Minghao’s shoulder as they walked back to Minghao’s room, a taunting smirk on his face, giving away the fact that he knew more than Minghao probably remembered. 

But he stayed quiet for now, letting his friend sleep off everything before he started back up his usual routine of teasing Minghao at every opportunity given to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had an idol in mind for everyone mentioned, but I really didn’t describe them since I’m kinda lazy and didn’t want to go into such detail when it was only just a small mention. 
> 
> I do want to say that it was Vernon and Chan messing with the speaker tho, just so you all can finally see where Chan has been this whole time! I haven’t thought of a good role for him yet, but that might change sometime in the future.


	21. November 14th, 2015 : Wonwoo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god, finally updating. You guys have no idea how much I struggled with this chapter but hopefully we are on to better greener pastures! (ie. The next chapter)
> 
> WARNING: There is slight Non-Con Elements near the end, so please be aware!

Wonwoo felt the familiar swirl of nerves playing around in his stomach. But whether they were from worry or excitement, Wonwoo couldn’t tell. He settled on a strange mixture of both. 

Today was the day of Minghao’s party, the one that Mingyu and Wonwoo knew that Junhui was also going to be making an appearance at. 

This was going to be the first time they would see Junhui in person ever since Wonwoo had started to text Junhui regularly, showing casual interest in the boy. Meaning that every action he did at the party towards Junhui was important in stepping forward with this plan. 

Wonwoo had to admit, him and Junhui meshed well. They played off each other’s jokes well, knowing exactly when the other was joking around, somehow able to read each other’s humor almost effortlessly. It made getting to know Junhui fun, and Wonwoo couldn’t help but think that they could have ended up pretty good friends if the circumstances to them getting to this point had been different.

Which was probably where the small thrill of excitement was coming from. Wonwoo was _excited_ to see Junhui at the party, the idea of him being able to hit on Junhui making it all more thrilling. 

Wonwoo was now standing in front of the full length mirror the couple had hanging on the back of their bathroom door, busy inspecting his outfit. It definitely wasn’t something he found himself wearing often, having had to dig around a little in his closet to find these pair of black torn skinny jeans, forfeiting them sometime in the past for a more neutral clothing style.

Mingyu had insisted that he reverted to his earlier style of clothing for the party, saying it was much more fitting for a college party scene than his usual jeans and t-shirt ensemble he had become accustomed to wearing now a days. 

But Wonwoo had to draw the line when he found Mingyu rifling around in the cabinet below their bathroom sink, trying to find just _where_ Wonwoo had hid his old hair crimper. 

Mingyu had just appeared in the mirror behind Wonwoo, leaning in to place his chin comfortably on Wonwoo’s shoulder (his preferred spot) before wrapping his arms around Wonwoo’s thin waist, gaze reflecting appreciation in the mirror. 

“Damn Wonwoo, why did you ever stop wearing this stuff?” asked Mingyu almost hypothetically. 

Wonwoo couldn’t help but roll his eyes, thoroughly distracted from his earlier thoughts of Junhui by his boyfriend. Even after all the years, the weight of Mingyu’s arms encircling him was just as distracting as it had been in the very beginning of their relationship. 

But his thoughts didn’t stay distracted for long, Mingyu’s mind having been where Wonwoo’s had just been a minute earlier.

“Are you sure you’re okay with trying something tonight?” asked Mingyu, his eyes now conveying genuine concern. “We don’t have to try something tonight if you aren’t ready.”

Wonwoo couldn’t help but snort a little in amusement, laughing at how Mingyu was using the term ‘we’ when really it was just Wonwoo doing all the work.

But Wonwoo turned in Mingyu’s hold, easily slipping his arms up and around Mingyu’s neck, the action almost as natural as breathing. He looked up to his boyfriend, a small smile now on his face.

“Don’t worry, you know full well I wouldn’t be doing this if I really didn’t want to.” 

It was Mingyu’s time to snort, having been on the receiving end of Wonwoo digging in his heels on many occasions, very familiar with the fact the Wonwoo was never the type of person to do anything he was against doing. 

Ressured, Mingyu let an easy smile slip out before leaning down to nuzzle into the side of Wonwoo’s neck, taking comfort in the proximity. 

And all Wonwoo could do was hug Mingyu closer, only feeling slightly like he had been lying.

He wouldn’t voice this to Mingyu but felt like this was a mistake. That maybe they really were playing with fire here, dragging someone else into something they really didn’t deserve to be dragged into.

Wonwoo didn’t view Mingyu’s unusual kink as something bad, but he couldn’t help but think that there might have been a better way to go about this. Maybe find someone who knew exactly what the situation was, who was fully informed to what they were getting into. 

But Wonwoo realized that he was being selfish in the arrangement too. This provided exactly what he had been curious about, finally able to see what flirting with someone besides Mingyu would be like. And he wouldn’t be able to do that without either this situation or breaking up with Mingyu, the latter not even an option to consider.

It was like they were killing two birds with one stone. Junhui just happened to be the casualty in this situation. 

And when Mingyu pulled away, eyes full of love and adoration, Wonwoo couldn’t help but think that he would do anything for him, even if it meant hurting someone else along the way.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

The couple arrived at Jihoon’s doorstep at an early 7 in the evening, both of them knowing full well that Jihoon wouldn’t be heading over (or getting ready) for the party without their prompting.

Apparently, they guessed correctly. Jihoon had opened the door wearing an oversized sweater over sweatpants, looking ready for bed rather than a party. 

All Mingyu could do was tutt a little before pushing an already complaining Jihoon back farther into the room, spouting excuses along the lines of, ‘Oh, that was tonight? I totally forgot.’ and other equally similar—and unbelievable—excuses as to why he wasn’t ready to leave. 

Luckily, Mingyu was a pro at hair styling as Wonwoo went over and picked out an outfit for him. Their combined effort lead them to having Jihoon ready in just a little over 30 minutes. (Which could have been less if the boy would have accepted his fate earlier and made it easier on them to get him ready.)

“Alright! I think we did good work here Wonwoo,” said Mingyu appreciatively as he took in Jihoon, whose expression could be compared to a cat who just had to take a bath they really didn’t want to take. 

Wonwoo clasped his hand on his boyfriend's shoulder, nodding in approval. All Jihoon could do was cross his arms while grumbling under his breath. The only words Wonwoo was able to pick up was ‘man handling giants’.

Wonwoo smiled to himself, always happy to bring a little chaos to Jihoon’s otherwise boring life, before checking the clock on his phone. 

“We might as well start heading over then,” spoke up Wonwoo as he turned to head to the door. He had earlier asked Junhui for walking directions to Minghao’s place, which Junhui had given a surprisingly detailed message as to just how they should make it to Minghao’s place by foot. When Wonwoo had teased him about it over text, the boy replied that he got lost the first time he tried to make it to Minghao’s and didn’t want Wonwoo to undergo the same fate. 

Which was a surprisingly thoughtful gesture from Junhui in Wonwoo’s opinion. Small things like that tugged at Wonwoo’s heart strings, reminding him that he was going to be playing with someone who had been nothing but nice to him. 

But Wonwoo was quick to throw those thoughts away, his resolve already set. Wonwoo could even convince himself that Junhui might be able to come out of this unscathed if he played his cards right, but that was usually a fleeting thought.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

Wonwoo stood next to his boyfriend in an unfamiliar kitchen, Jihoon a little off to the side, seemingly determined to not get drunk tonight.

When they first arrived, they were able to convince him to take a group shot with them, hoping that it would release some of the tension in his shoulders, something that only seemed to have been getting worse as the minutes went by. 

Mingyu leaned in to Wonwoo’s shoulder, whispering into his ear so Jihoon didn’t accidentally overhear. “But how are we going to distract Jihoon?” 

Wonwoo pressed his lips in a fine line, not sure how they were going to pull it off without leaving Jihoon in an even worse mood than he already found himself in. 

Maybe forcing Jihoon along wasn’t the best idea, since they had an ulterior agenda that regarded said person’s roommate. But when Wonwoo was discussing the plan with Mingyu, they had both agreed that them leaving Jihoon behind would have been suspicious, since he was their only real connection to both Junhui and Minghao, who probably only invited Mingyu and him along as a polite gesture. 

“I’m not sure, let’s just keep an eye out for an opportunity,” replied back Wonwoo, just as softly. To which they both knew was code meaning that he had absolutely no clue how they were going to pull this off without having to buy Jihoon’s meals for the next month just so that they would be forgiven for forcing him to a party only to get ditched.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

Almost like magic, the perfect opportunity had arrived. AKA, Jihoon’s new boyfriend.

As much as a tipsy Wonwoo wanted to actually get to know and maybe interrogate him, he had another mission already in the works, so that would have to be postponed to a later date. 

But even the booze in his system wouldn’t allow Wonwoo to overlook the look of excitement in Jihoon’s eyes when Seungcheol showed up. 

Wonwoo and Mingyu had just exited the kitchen, effectively ditching Jihoon without the other figuring out that that had been their plan all along, when Mingyu high fived Wonwoo.

“Yes! I’m going to have to buy that guy a thank you present soon,” commented Mingyu as they walked a little further into the house. Wonwoo could only nod enthusiastically in agreement. 

Wonwoo was startled by Mingyu’s arm suddenly lashing out in front of him, effectively stopping Wonwoo in his tracks. 

“Oh shit, there he is,” stage whispered Mingyu into Wonwoo’s ear.

Wonwoo wasn’t sure if Mingyu legitimately thought he was being discrete but Wonwoo just blamed it on the alcohol. 

But Wonwoo followed Mingyu’s line of sight, only to come upon the only ‘he’ Mingyu would be referring to in such a tone. If anyone asked, Wonwoo would blame the alcohol for the sudden sputter his heart made in his chest when he finally got sight of Junhui. 

Which he was feeling simultaneously both regretful and grateful for in the moment. 

Grateful since he didn’t think he would be able to pull this off without the liquid courage flowing through his veins. Just the sight of Junhui was making Wonwoo nervous, the source of all their plans standing not 15 feet away from where he and Mingyu had stopped in the living room.

Regretful because, shit, now he actually had to implement a complicated plan _without fucking it up._ Alcohol should never be a variable when it came to implementing complicated plans.

“Okay okay… Act cool,” whispered out Mingyu harshly before running his fingers through his hair nervously. Wonwoo shoved at Mingyu’s shoulder slightly, trying to get him to knock it off, his blatant show of nervousness while telling _him_ to be cool was definitely _not_ helping him calm his pounding heart. 

Wonwoo took a deep breath, trying to will himself into sobriety. He was really regretting that last shot him and Mingyu just took not 5 minutes ago, but what’s done is done.

Mingyu watched him curiously, before realizing that Wonwoo was psyching himself up to go talk to Junhui. 

Wonwoo felt Mingyu’s hand on his cheek, turning his attention to Mingyu. “You know we don’t have to do this tonight if you aren’t ready,” reminded Mingyu. 

Wonwoo could see the hesitance in Mingyu’s eyes. The care he found there made Wonwoo’s heart swell from affection, reminded to just _how much_ Mingyu loved him. 

Which only served as fuel to Wonwoo, suddenly feeling much less uneasy about starting the plan tonight. If Mingyu cared so much about Wonwoo that he’d be willing to continually check to make sure Wonwoo was on board for what they were about to do, then he would put aside all his small doubts just to make him happy. 

Confidence and resolve at an all time high, Wonwoo straightened his back and set his shoulders before nodding over to Mingyu. 

Mingyu caught on easily, smiling joyfully at Wonwoo before turning their direction towards Junhui, who had been standing in a hallway this whole time. 

It was a short walk, but Wonwoo had somehow been able to steel his nerves during it, taking on a much different mentality than his usual. He figured he had to come off strong, his moves and choices had to be deliberate, so that Junhui wouldn’t somehow pick up on the fact that everything he was about to say and do was—for lack of a better word—bullshit. 

Luckily, they seemed to have arrived right in time to stop Junhui, who was turning to leave his spot in the hallway.

“Junhui!” called out Wonwoo, stopping Junhui in his tracks. “I was hoping to run into you sometime tonight,” mussed Wonwoo, choosing to go with the line that made it seem like he had been looking for Junhui. Which really wasn’t a lie, just not in the sense that Wonwoo insinuated.

Junhui turned to face them, looking almost reluctant that he had to. Which wouldn’t work for Wonwoo, only serving as fuel to spur Wonwoo to lay on the flattery. 

“Hey Wonwoo, Mingyu,” came Junhui's casual greeting.

“So why are you hanging out in the hallway instead of enjoying the party?” asked Wonwoo, asking the first thing that came to mind.

“Not really feeling it tonight,” said Junhui with a shrug. Wonwoo almost pursed his lips at the news. That meant that Junhui hadn’t been drinking, which was one of the main reasons why he and Mingyu wanted to initiate the plan tonight. 

“Man, that always sucks,” replied Wonwoo, not having to fake the upset tone in his voice.

It was then that Wonwoo felt Mingyu lean in, who hadn’t done anything to contribute to the conversation since they walked up to Junhui. Wonwoo felt Mingyu’s lips ghost over his ear when he whispered, not wanting Junhui to hear.

“I’ll come find you in an hour.” 

Wonwoo couldn’t help but look at Mingyu in surprise. They hadn’t discussed Mingyu actually _leaving_ his side while he talked with Junhui tonight. But I guess that was to be expected, figuring that Junhui would definitely be against anything Wonwoo pulled if Mingyu was right there. 

When Wonwoo met Mingyu’s eyes, he saw the small hint of a question, asking without words if this was right course of action. Wonwoo knew that if he showed Mingyu any sign of hesitance or reluctance to him leaving, he would have stayed by his side. 

But Junhui already seemed like he was on guard, and he needed him to be at ease. Which meant that Mingyu needed to go.

With that thought, Wonwoo sent a small nod to Mingyu, letting him know that he was okay with being left alone. Mingyu sent a broad smile down at Wonwoo before turning to go, waving to Junhui in his departure. 

Wonwoo turned back to Junhui, who seemed to have been just as surprised by Mingyu’s departure as Wonwoo had been. But Wonwoo didn’t want Junhui to be focused on that now.

But it looked like Junhui was thinking along the same line as Wonwoo, who was looking significantly more attentive to Wonwoo now that Mingyu was gone. Junhui seemed to have realized the situation he found himself in, and seemed to have transformed in front of Wonwoo’s eyes. 

Gone was the boy who looked like he would much rather have not been approached by Wonwoo and Mingyu. The look Junhui was now sending Wonwoo was borderline predatory, like Wonwoo had fell into his trap by ending up alone with him. 

Maybe both Mingyu and Jihoon had been onto something.

Up until that exact moment, Wonwoo had still been on the fence that Junhui had been different to Wonwoo when Mingyu wasn’t around. Jihoon had tried to talk to him about it before, expressly saying that Junhui would take advantage of the fact that Mingyu wasn’t around sometimes. But at the time, Wonwoo just wrote it off as Jihoon over reacting. The whole school knew that Junhui was a huge flirt, and Wonwoo had just viewed the fact that Junhui would back off when ever Mingyu was around as him being courteous to their relationship, and had only been touchy with Wonwoo when Mingyu wasn’t around out of habit.

And when Mingyu was first convincing Wonwoo to this plan, he was still feeling a small sense that they were reading too much into Junhui’s texts. That they were pulling an innocent boy into a plan that he didn’t deserve, when he was genuinely just looking for homework help.

But not anymore. Wonwoo could almost feel his smile turn a little more wicked, the ends curling a little more than necessary. 

Now that all his earlier thoughts of Junhui not actually trying to flirt with him had flown out the window, all bets were off. 

Which meant that Wonwoo could have as much fun as he wanted without feeling guilty about it later.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

Amazingly, Junhui was making this _so easy._

Wonwoo felt amazingly comfortable in Junhui’s presence. They filled the air with jokes and small games, trying to get the other to drink more than the other. Luckily for Wonwoo, it seemed that Junhui was now much more willing to drink then he was earlier in the party, not having to prompt the boy much into doing so. 

Which meant that Junhui didn’t notice when Wonwoo started to cut back, not wanting to get utterly sloshed and completely lose all his sense. He was currently on a mission after all. 

They were presently leaned in close to each other, Junhui’s thigh hot as it rested against Wonwoo’s own. They were sitting on Minghao’s floor (to which Wonwoo was grateful that it looked clean, since he probably wouldn’t have been there if otherwise), both of their heads leaning up against Minghao’s bed.

The silence that filled the air was comfortable. It was almost unreal how well the two of them got along. It made Wonwoo slightly sad, because maybe if he had befriended Junhui under different circumstances, they could have probably been pretty good friends. 

But the reason why he was drunk, sitting with Junhui alone in Minghao’s dark room on a Saturday night wasn’t so he could make _friends_.

Just as the thought flitted around Wonwoo’s mind, he heard his phone go off. It seems like his hour was now up and he had yet to do anything substantial in any way to cause Junhui to want to come back for more. 

Wonwoo pulled out his phone, just to check for sure that it really was Mingyu texting him. Wonwoo didn't even bother opening the text message, knowing that it was Mingyu letting him know that he was going to come find him. 

As he was pushing his phone back into his pocket, he heard Junhui speak up. 

“Not answering?” asked Junhui, voice deep with alcohol. 

“Nah,” answered Wonwoo, hoping that Junhui would pick up on the fact that he didn’t want his text to become their next topic of conversation. 

But Junhui must have either not realized, or just didn’t care, since he was asking about it again. 

“Not answering?” asked Junhui, but this time he tilted his head so he could look at Wonwoo instead of the void that was the rest of Minghao’s room that sat in front of them. 

Wonwoo looked back into Junhui’s eyes, reminded of the plan. And now he knew that he was cutting it close, Mingyu was bound to find him sometime soon. Time to speed things up a bit. 

“Yeah, but I don’t want him to find me yet.” 

Which must have been just the right words to say to Junhui, since he sent Wonwoo one of those smiles that you knew only came about when someone just experienced something close to pure joy. But Wonwoo couldn’t factor out that the alcohol probably helped. 

“Aww, you like my company that much?” teased Junhui as he leaned over and rested his head onto Wonwoo’s shoulder. 

Wonwoo had to give Junhui some credit though, he could feel himself swoon slightly at Junhui’s words. 

It might have been the alcohol that was still infecting his blood stream, or the fact that Wonwoo was finally getting his chance to see what being with someone other than Mingyu would have ever been like—most likely a mix of both—but Wonwoo was starting to feel something pull at his heart. 

And Wonwoo’s next words scared him the second they were released into the room, since he hadn’t even been planning on saying them. There was no forethought underlying reason to them, having spilled out naturally. 

“I like a lot of things about you.” 

Wonwoo’s own words had spurred his heart into action, now thumping heavily in his chest. Whether it was from fear of the truth behind his words or from something else entirely, Wonwoo would never know. 

Junhui must have sensed the weight and the change in Wonwoo’s tone. Junhui picked his head up from where it was laying, tilting his head so he could look into Wonwoo’s eyes. When he was readjusting, Junhui had allowed his thigh to flop over onto Wonwoo’s own. The heat of it was starting to sear into Wonwoo’s own thigh, a very distracting weight to Wonwoo’s muddled mind. 

Junhui’s proximity was distracting. This close, Wonwoo could even count Junhui’s eyelashes if he wanted to. Out of habit, Wonwoo started to, finding the action relaxing and brought Wonwoo’s heart to peace. He couldn’t help but think that he could count Junhui’s eyelashes forever, they seemed to have been immeasurable. 

This was something Wonwoo had learned to do when he was laying next to a snoring Mingyu at night, when he couldn’t seem to get his constantly moving mind to settle, turning to the soothing act of counting Mingyu’s eyelashes as he slept peacefully next to him. 

But then the moment was broken when Junhui let out a deep breath, reminding Wonwoo to just _who_ it was that was this close to him. Wonwoo was then acutely aware to the fact that this was _Junhui_ sharing his air space and not _Mingyu_ whom he had done so with probably a million times, bringing the peace Wonwoo had been feeling to a screeching hault. 

Wonwoo suddenly felt overwhelmed. Without knowing so, Wonwoo had accidentally shared something Wonwoo had felt special to just him and Mingyu with Junhui. Neither Mingyu nor Junhui were aware to the fact that Wonwoo thought of such actions as something sacred to be shared between only someone who matters to him. Hell, not even _Wonwoo_ had know up until this exact moment. 

Before the terror of the thought could completely set in, Wonwoo heard the door to the room open. 

Wonwoo fought to keep his sigh of relief in, not wanting Junhui to become aware to the mess Wonwoo’s mind had just been in. 

And then Wonwoo almost felt at peace again when he saw just who it was that broke the intimate air between him and Junhui. 

Both Jihoon and Mingyu were standing in the open doorway. Jihoon was quick to make his way in, but was soon followed by Mingyu, who had reached down to help Wonwoo off the floor when he reached his side. 

Wonwoo felt so much comfort in the touch, to the point that he couldn’t hold in his sigh of relief anymore. Luckily, he was no longer in close proximity with Junhui, meaning that he probably didn’t hear it. 

No words were exchanged between the four of them, but Wonwoo didn’t feel like any were necessary. He felt the reassuring squeeze of Mingyu’s hand before he was lead out with a small whisper of, “Let’s go home,” being said into his ear. 

Mingyu’s tone held all the love and familiarity that Wonwoo needed, but also had a hint of something that promised that his night wasn’t completely over yet. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

Mingyu’s tight grip on Wonwoo’s arms were _everything_ Wonwoo needed in that moment.

Possessive, powerful, warm, but most importantly, _familiar_.

They had just made it back to their shared dorm room when Mingyu had grabbed at Wonwoo’s arms in a borderline bruising grip before pushing Wonwoo back to their bed, intent in his blown eyes. 

Wonwoo felt the back of his knees hit the mattress before he fell back onto it, Mingyu’s weight following him down. Before Wonwoo could even try and reposition so they were more comfortably on the bed, Mingyu bit onto Wonwoo’s ear before speaking lowly into it.

“I know I was talking about how great you looked in those pants earlier, but I want nothing more then to see you out of them.”

And with that, Wonwoo could feel the top of his jeans harshly getting pulled at, causing Wonwoo’s small laugh at Mingyu’s eagerness to be interrupted by a hiss. Mingyu knew just how much he enjoyed it when Mingyu was rough with him.

But before Mingyu could actually get around to unbuttoning Wonwoo’s pants, he grabbed Mingyu’s larger hands in his own.

“Whoa there cowboy,” said Wonwoo, trying to catch his bearings. Wonwoo hadn’t seen Mingyu in such a rush for sex for a long time. It was thrilling, but was also throwing Wonwoo off kilter. It didn’t help that he still was working off the last of his alcohol, something Mingyu was able to do in the hour he had left Wonwoo alone. 

Wonwoo felt more then heard the low chuckle that Mingyu let out. 

“Is that how you want it tonight? Because that can be arranged.” 

Then Mingyu was kissing Wonwoo deeply, not allowing Wonwoo an opportunity to reply.

Wonwoo tried to keep pace, but it had been a while since there was such an urgency to their kisses, so Wonwoo could tell that Mingyu was getting slightly frustrated with how Wonwoo’s kiss was much more relaxed compared to his own fast pace.

Mingyu suddenly broke away, leaving a puffing Wonwoo and a string of saliva in his wake. Sometime during the kiss, Wonwoo had let his hands roam from Mingyu’s hands to his hair, now thoroughly tangled there. 

Wonwoo was reminded to the reason why his hands were holding Mingyu’s in the first place when he felt the front of his pants get tugged again before he felt the telltale signs of Mingyu finally getting both the button and zipper open.

“Wait Ming—” Wonwoo was cut off by Mingyu groaning into his ear, head now tucked in next to Wonwoo’s as he basically nuzzled into Wonwoo’s neck. Unfortunately it wasn’t a groan of the sexy kind, but much more of impatience with Wonwoo. 

But Wonwoo couldn’t help it, his mind was still racing. His thoughts weren’t completely on his boyfriend, who had picked now to lift his head from Wonwoo’s shoulder to look Wonwoo in the eyes. Mingyu seemed to be searching for the answer as to just _why_ he wanted to wait. 

But it did nothing but serve as a reminder to why he was hesitating.

Mingyu blinked, his eyelashes almost batting at Wonwoo, seemingly taunting him. Reminding him that his habit of counting Mingyu’s eyelashes was no longer something that was only shared between them. It now caused as a reminder that Junhui had been close enough to Wonwoo to allow him the opportunity to start counting.

To which Wonwoo could start to feel the signs of anger bubbling up in his throat. He was upset with himself for allowing something that he only shared with Mingyu to get stained with Junhui’s presence. 

But ultimately, he had only himself to blame. Wonwoo had actively seeked out a chance to share these sort of moments with someone other than Mingyu. He was getting exactly what he was asking for, but who knew it would enrage Wonwoo the way it was now?

After the small beat of silence between the pair had passed, Wonwoo felt Mingyu’s hands move to action again, somehow able to slide Wonwoo’s pants completely off him in a well executed tug.

Wonwoo stared down at Mingyu in surprise when Mingyu then hiked up Wonwoo’s shirt before leaving trails of wet marks and kisses as he made his way down Wonwoo’s torso. 

“No waiting,” spoke up Mingyu when his face was level with Wonwoo’s crotch, causing Wonwoo to shiver in anticipation when he felt Mingyu’s hot breath ghost over his lower abdomen. 

Suddenly Wonwoo couldn’t agree more. 

Any lingering thoughts of Junhui had escaped his mind the second Mingyu rid Wonwoo of his boxers, soon followed by a deep moan filling the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me when I first started writing this chapter: I’m going to add smut just because I can and want to. 
> 
> Me after writing chapter: Oh god, that was so hard to do and all I wrote was the vague sense of dicks bumping. 
> 
> I now have so much more appreciation to smut authors out there, ya’ll got some strong wills. 
> 
> But come talk to me on [Twitter!](https://twitter.com/NeonNitrogen)
> 
> I’ve been live tweeting during my writing process so you might get some slight teasers to the chapters to come that way! I also added a Fanfiction Spoilers / Additional Info thread that I'll update every now and then if you're interested!
> 
> Also, I just wanted to take the time to thank every one of you who is here reading this. Extra big THANK YOU to everyone who has left a comments, kudos, or has come and talked to me on twitter. You guys have no idea how happy it makes me when I hear from you. <3


	22. November 14th, 2015 : Jihoon

Jihoon watched almost in distain as both Mingyu and Wonwoo grabbed another shot for themselves. They had been accommodating enough to ask if Jihoon had wanted to join, but he was quick to refuse the offer. 

But don’t be mistaken, Jihoon had always enjoyed getting smashed at the local college party every now and then, but tonight, he really wasn’t feeling it.

Much earlier on in the day, he even entertained the thought of actually wanting to go even though he needed an entourage of people to convince him in the first place. But he had crashed back to reality when reminded to the copious amounts of homework he was starting to fall behind in now that Seungcheol had been filling a lot of his blank spots in his daily schedule.

Before, he would find himself done and even ahead of most of his classes. But now, he was just barely finishing his projects in time. It was starting to really get on his nerves, since he didn’t want to slip back even a miniscule amount in any of his classes.

He definitely didn’t blame Seungcheol, but he really needed to get his priorities straightened out again if he wanted to stay at the top of his class. 

Attending a college party was the definition of _not_ having your priorities straight. But when Mingyu and Wonwoo had showed up at his doorstep and proceeded to get him dressed against his will, there wasn’t much else he could do.

But that had only been the start of what was contributing to his mood for the night. Jihoon had started to really feel a little off about the night when he realized that Wonwoo had gotten their directions to Minghao’s place on his own.

Jihoon had been in the process of pulling out his phone, offhandedly saying that he was going to text Minghao for those directions he said he would provide when Wonwoo had reassured him that he had already gotten them from Junhui.

All Jihoon could do was nod and accept the new information that Wonwoo had somehow gotten ahold of Junhui’s number. Jihoon was tempted to ask when that had become a thing, but decided against it in the moment.

Jihoon was almost 100% positive that it was Junhui’s doing. The boy hadn’t been subtle with his crush over the past 2 years he had been rooming with Junhui, but Jihoon had easily casted it aside, mainly taking it as Junhui’s flirtatious ways getting the better of him.

But maybe he _should_ confront Junhui about it now that something like this had developed. 

Jihoon was brought out of his thoughts when he felt someone rest their hand on the small of his back, said someone’s voice speaking right in his ear. 

“Didn’t expect to see you here.”

Jihoon whipped around to look at the offending person, only to come face to face with a broad smiling Seungcheol. Jihoon felt himself relax immensely, both happy and relieved that it wasn’t a stranger but his boyfriend Seungcheol.

To think of someone as his ‘boyfriend’ felt unfamiliar in Jihoon’s mind, but he found himself strangely comfortable at the thought that he now actually had someone to call that, even more so since it was Seungcheol.

Jihoon wouldn’t ever admit it, but to know now that they were defined as something helped put his mind at ease. Even though he never would have thought of himself as someone who would need a label to feel better with the relationship he was in, the term ‘boyfriend’ was something familiar to him and helped him know exactly where he stood with Seungcheol.

Jihoon smiled lightly back at Seungcheol, leaning in so he would reply back.

“That makes two of us.”

Jihoon easily read what Seungcheol’s confused face was asking and motioned over to Wonwoo and Mingyu as an explanation.

He seemed to have turned attention to the couple at just the wrong time, allowing them audience to the two taking yet _another_ shot of alcohol. 

Seungcheol turned back to Jihoon, a confused look still prominent on his face.

“Is that Mingyu and Wonwoo?”

It when then that Jihoon realized that, no, Seungcheol _hasn’t_ ever meet or even seen his best friends. 

Without really thinking about it, Jihoon reached out and grabbed a hold of Seungcheol hand so he could lead him over to his friends. He found himself a little embarrassed that he hadn't gone out of his way to introduce Seungcheol to his friends like how the elder had done for him.

To make matters worse, he was now going to meet them for the first time when they were drunk. But Jihoon tried to hide his smirk at the idea. If Jihoon had to deal with the menagerie that was Seungcheol’s friends, then he was going to have to deal with being introduced to his own friends under such circumstances.

The introduction was — more or less — exactly how Jihoon had thought it was going to go about. There was loud words exchanged, a lot of touching, and a slightly uncomfortable looking Seungcheol. 

So basically it went perfectly and Jihoon couldn’t help the smile he had on his face, happy to see Seungcheol take a little bit of the brunt when it came to friend introductions.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

As the night went on, Jihoon found himself not drinking as much as he thought he was going to once Seungcheol had showed up. Jihoon blamed it on his guilty mind wrecking havoc, knowing that he had an unfinished report sitting on his laptop back at his dorm.

But he couldn’t help it. His study habits were something he took pride in and having to leave something for later when he could have it done now was inhibiting him to let go of those worries and just have fun. He tried to reason with himself by telling himself that he was already here and couldn’t do anything about it now, so why not just enjoy the night? Plus, he didn’t want to ruin Seungcheol’s night.

So, instead of turning Seungcheol down when he asked if Jihoon wanted a drink, he took the middle road and agreed, but was cutting back on the amount he drank without telling Seungcheol. So when the two of them would go back to the kitchen to refill on drinks, Jihoon had asked the guy who had originally poured their drinks — whatever his name was. Now that he thinks about it, he’s not sure he even _got_ his name — to just half refill his when Seungcheol hadn’t been paying attention, who was messing with the other boy that was behind the counter. 

Luckily, the tall boy with a nice smile seemed like he was the more reasonable one when compared to his companion in the kitchen. Jihoon was grateful that he seemed to have caught on that Jihoon hadn’t wanted Seungcheol to know about the request when he had asked in a hushed voice, only winking in agreement before turning to work on the drinks.

Currently, Jihoon found himself leaning up against some wall in the living room, Seungcheol by his side.

Jihoon was grateful that he had Seungcheol to keep him company. Jihoon wasn't blind and easily picked up on the tell tale signs that Wonwoo and Mingyu had been wanting to ditch him.

His suspicions had been confirmed the second they ditched him when Seungcheol showed up. Jihoon had no idea what it was they were trying to do at this party that required Jihoon to not be around, but it must have been something important — at least to them — if they were so willing to leave Jihoon with his new boyfriend without a smidge of interrogation. They were just lucky that it was Seungcheol that had showed up and was who they had dumped him on. 

Jihoon was pulled out of his thoughts when he saw Seungcheol motion at him out of the corner of his eye.

“You.. How many of those have you had?”

Jihoon looked down at his small amount of liquor pooling at the bottom of his cup. The liquid had probably gone lukewarm by now thanks to the heat of his hand holding the cup.

“I think this is my second one?” answered Jihoon. He figured he might as well be truthful when asked a direct question. If he was comparing the amount of alcohol he had to Seungcheol, he would probably be on his second one. 

“What! How did I get like, double you?” asked Seungcheol, giving him a very perplexed look, probably confused as to how Jihoon had pulled that off without him noticing. But Jihoon wasn’t about to explain it to a tipsy Seungcheol. 

So instead he changed the subject.

“I wouldn’t take you for a light weight,” voiced Jihoon as he swirled the liquid around in the bottom of his cup.

Seeing Seungcheol drunk for the first time was causing a strange mix of feelings in Jihoon. It amused him to no end that he seemed to be a light weight. His only wish was that he could just _stop_ worrying about some report that wasn’t even due for a few days. It was clouding the experience and leaving Jihoon with a slight buzz of irritation under his skin, fogging any positive feelings he could be feeling in this moment.

Jihoon watched at Seungcheol slumped into the wall they had been standing next to. 

“What?? How— no— why did you, say that?” asked Seungcheol incredulously. Seungcheol then looked into his own cup before coming back up with an answer.

“Nah.. I just. Haven’t gotten drunk in a while is all.”

Jihoon would have laughed at how cute Seungcheol had just looked if his mind would get over his unfinished homework. He couldn’t help but think to how late it was getting, and that if he left soon, he would probably have enough time to finish it if he went to sleep just a little later than his usual. 

He thought to Wonwoo and Mingyu and how he hadn’t seen them lurking around in a while. Jihon had accompanied them to enough parties to know that they were usually the center of attention — at least Mingyu was — their personalities only all the more rowdy when influenced with alcohol. 

The thought that they had been MIA for at least the last hour had him feeling more weary than his unfinished homework. Plus the sooner he convinced them to leave, the sooner he could get both them and himself home. 

And no matter how cute Seungcheol was while drunk, Jihoon himself was not drunk and still in his right mind. Knowing that Seungcheol should probably take a break from the pace he was going, Jihoon decided that he would help Seungcheol a little bit before he left him to go find his friends and try and convince them that they had mingled at the party long enough. Seungcheol would probably thank him tomorrow morning. 

With that in mind, he turned back to Seungcheol. 

“...Right. Just. Don’t have any more for now,” said Jihoon before he reached out and plucked the cup out of Seungcheol’s hand easily. It looked like Seungcheol was going to chase after it, but gave up easily as he let his arm slump back to his side. 

“I’m going to look for Wonwoo and Mingyu, I haven’t seen them in a while,” explained Jihoon into Seungcheol’s ear so that he wouldn’t miss what he said.

Jihoon was happy to see that Seungcheol was easy to agree, not pouting like how he thought Seungcheol would have when he told him the news. It reminded Jihoon to the fact that he still had a lot to learn about his new boyfriend. 

Jihoon patted Seungcheol’s shoulder as a goodbye. For a split second, he debated giving a hug instead, but easily dismissed it as he walked away from Seungcheol and into the crowd of college students. 

Jihoon was quick to start scanning the crowd for Mingyu, since he would have been the easiest out of the pair to locate with his height. 

As he squeezed by dancing students, he tried to allow his body to flow with the people so he wouldn't start to get shoved around too hard.

Jihoon was having the off handed thought of how he should have stuck to the outer walls of the living room instead of diving right into the midst of it when to his right, he got stuck hard in his shoulder by someone’s rouge elbow.

Jihoon fell hard into someone else, thanks to the force of the hit. He was about to round on the person who had very rudely shoved him over when he felt the person who he fell into hands tighten on his arms. 

Before Jihoon could redirect his attention from the rude student to the person who was now pressed close to him, he heard a familiar yell over the music.

“Jihoon! I’m so glad we could bump into each other like this.” 

Jihoon looked up to meet the gaze of Seokmin. The only thing that came to mind when he was flashed a wide grin from the boy was that he seemed like the most normal out of Seungcheol’s friends.

The boy then let go of Jihoon’s arms after he had realized that Jihoon had found his balance once again. He seemed a little sheepish as he rub the back of his head, grin just as wide as before. 

Before Jihoon could think up a quick way to excuse himself from conversing with Seokmin, since he was still in the middle of looking for his friends, he was interrupted but Seokmin’s shocked face as he once again grabbed at Jihoon’s arms, but this time out of slight panic.

“Oh shit, where is Seungcheol? He was with you right?” came Seokmin’s slightly slurred words. That and his red cheeks were the only indication to Jihoon that Seokmin hadn’t been a stranger to the kitchen tonight.

But the panic that was in his voice still made Jihoon on edge, unsure as to why he was using that tone when asking about Seungcheol.

“Yeah, I was just with him a few minutes ago, what’s up?” 

Seokmin looked around them worriedly. But Jihoon wasn’t quite sure what he was looking for, since there was still tons of college students dancing around them for they seemed to be in the dead center of the room.

Seokmin leaned in when he didn’t find what he had been looking for, “I saw Jeonghan earlier.” 

The name clicked on something in Jihoon’s brain, but nothing really registered. He _knew_ he should remember the name, and as to just why he needed to know it, but in this current moment he couldn’t remember. It nagged at Jihoon’s brain, but before he could ask Seokmin just _who_ Jeonghan was, Seokmin was talking again.

“I was going to go warn Seungcheol, but I saw he was with you.”

Jihoon wasn’t sure why Seokmin seeing that Seongcheol was with him would deter him from letting Seungcheol know about this Jeonghan’s appearance at this party. 

“But now that you’re _here_ ,” said Seokmin as he placed a heavy finger on Jihoon’s chest, “I should go let him know,” finished Seokmin with a nod to himself, like he was telling himself that he had come to the correct conclusion. 

Seokmin was turning away from Jihoon, already setting off on his mission to find Seungcheol, when Jihoon stopped him. 

“But who’s Jeonghan?” asked Jihoon innocently. The nagging feeling was relentless, telling him that he probably _should_ know who this Jeonghan guy was.

“Oh!” exclaimed Seokmin as he turned back to Jihoon. He watched as Seokmin’s expression morphed from surprise to something that Jihoon could only identify as pity. Maybe a little bit of sadness flitting around in there too.

“Oohhh,” repeated Seokmin, but this time much more drawled out, causing Jihoon’s stomach to drop. His tone told Jihoon that it probably _wasn’t_ a good thing that Jihoon had to ask that question.

“I—,” stared Seokmin, before he turned to face Jihoon completely as he once again rested his hands on his arms, but this time in comfort. 

The dread in Jihoon’s stomach only got worse. Why would Seokmin feel like he needed to comfort Jihoon in this situation?

Seokmin seemed to finally find the words he hadn’t been able to before. 

“I’m probably not the best person to tell you. Maybe you should ask Seongcheol about it,” prompted Seokmin before patting Jihoon’s arms as he turned, probably happy to be able to leave Jihoon and that conversation behind.

Jihoon felt a sharp pain on his lip. It was only then that he realized how hard he had been chewing it. He _really_ didn’t like that interaction, but there was nothing Jihoon could do about in the present moment. That thought didn’t help subside the sick feeling in his stomach.

Jihoon knew that there was something about this Jeonghan guy that Seungcheol hadn’t told him about. And from Seokmin’s reaction, it was probably something he should have heard by now. Jihoon didn’t like it one bit that it seemed like Seungcheol was keeping something from him.

He had to find Mingyu. All Jihoon wanted now was to leave this night behind.

At the thought, his stomach twisted even worse, as if telling him that the worst of tonight was just getting started.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

It took Jihoon about 10 more minutes of searching to finally locate Mingyu. He found him sitting in a corner of the living room, face aglow thanks to his phone stuck up close to it.

“Why the fuck are you holed up in a corner?” asked Jihoon, unable to keep the annoyance out of his voice from having to search every nook and cranny in this house for his friend. It shouldn't have been so hard to find him, it wasn’t like this house was very big. 

Jihoon blamed it on the fact that Mingyu was basically hiding, body curled up small. 

Mingyu looked up when he heard Jihoon, casual confusion in his glace. 

Jihoon sighed, trying to compose himself a bit before talking again. It wasn’t like Mingyu was hiding from his intentionally — at least he hoped not — but he was starting to feel weary from everything that had happened so far tonight. First his homework anxiety, then his brief talk with Seokmin, then this. Jihoon had even started to think that Mingyu and Wonwoo had left him at the party.

But now that that fear was cleared up, he needed to take his agitation down a notch.

“Sorry,” started Jihoon, trying to make up for snapping at Mingyu, “Just ready to go home.” 

Mingyu nodded easily at Jihoon’s apology as he unscrunched from his seated position before standing to his full height, stretching a bit. Apparently he had been there for a length of time.

“Where’s Wonwoo?” asked Jihoon, taking note that he wasn’t in the immediate vicinity. 

Mingu looked down at Jihoon before answering, almost like he was trying to figure out an answer to give to Jihoon. 

But after the small pause, Mingyu casually shrugged his shoulders, “No idea.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? You guys are practically attached at the hip,” mused Jihoon, trying to put his finger on why everything just felt wrong tonight.

Everything is making his stomach twist in knots, letting him know that nothing that has been happening is right. 

When Mingyu starts to type on his phone rather than replying to Jihoon was when he knew that something was up. He wasn't completely sure why Mingyu was hiding where Wonwoo was.

“Mingyu…,” started Jihoon, letting a small part of his suspicion slide into his voice.

Mingyu looked up from his phone after he was finished, an award winning smile on his face. But Jihoon has known Mingyu for many years now, and he didn't appreciate being on the receiving end of Mingyu’s ‘pacifying smiles’. 

“There’s nothing to worry about Jihoon,” said Mingyu as his slid his phone into his pocket. “I’m going to go look for him though, I think I’m ready to home now too.”

Mingyu then turned away from Jihoon, trying to leave him behind, but he wasn’t about to let someone walk away from him a second time tonight without telling him the whole story. 

“I’ll help then,” said Jihoon as he walked up next to Mingyu, trying to keep his tone light. 

Mingyu looked a little uncomfortable with that. “Oh no worries, I bet he just got caught up in a conversation with a friend or something,” spoke Mingyu without looking at Jihoon.

Jihoon noticed that Mingyu had stopped walking, not wanting Jihoon to follow him.

“I want to help. Plus the sooner we find him, the sooner we can go home,” said Jihoon with a hint of a shrug. Mingyu wasn’t going to shake him that easily.

And it seemed that Mingyu realized that too, his shoulders slumping slightly in resignation. 

“Alright…”

But Jihoon studied Mingyu as he walked, taking note that Mingyu looked less like he was searching and more like he had a destination in mind.

Jihoon had no idea why Mingyu was acting like this. Not only was the fact that Wonwoo hadn’t been with Mingyu already pretty strange, Mingyu had looked like he had been waiting. Waiting for what, Jihoon could only speculate that it had something to do with the missing Wonwoo. The fact that he didn’t want Jihoon around had tipped the bar completely into the ‘suspicious’ zone. 

Mingyu’s dulled demeanour was also something Jihoon wasn’t sure how to interpret. 

When Mingyu led the pair to the house’s only hallway, leading into the resident’s bedrooms, that was when Jihoon had to say something again.

“Why would Wonwoo be down there?” asked Jihoon, stopping at the opening.

Mingyu had pushed on though, answering Jihoon without so much as glancing back at him. “I’m pretty sure I saw him come in here earlier.” 

Jihoon couldn’t hold it in any longer. The swirling in stomach was at an all time high, putting him on edge, and he couldn’t hold back his emotions anymore. 

“Mingyu!” shouted Jihoon, causing said boy to stop in his tracks. “What the hell is going on?!” 

Jihoon was vaguely aware that his hands were clenched tightly, so he willed them to relax at his sides. He had no idea why he was acting like this all the sudden. He had known and come to terms with the fact that there was just going to be some things between Wonwoo and Mingyu that he would never know about, even though the three of them had been together for years.

These emotional scars had been buried long ago, but there was something about tonight. It was pulling at Jihoon’s mind, all these secrets and things that were being hidden from him. First Seokmin hinting at Seungcheol hiding something from him, and now Mingyu hiding something about Wonwoo. There was a part of him that knew that he was overreacting, but it couldn’t keep the memories from years long ago to be resurfaced again.

Jihoon _knew_ the downsides to having your only two friends being in a relationship. Had spent years being a third wheel to their lives together. Of course the two had never done it purposefully, and had always tried to include Jihoon in everything if they could.

But that’s the thing. There is a boundary between friends and lovers. Somethings were kept between lovers, and simple friends weren’t granted to see or know about them. 

And Jihoon had thought that he had grown to not care that Mingyu and Wonwoo had a relationship together that he was never going to have with either of them, no matter how much Jihoon had wanted it in the past.

Jihoon also wanted to place a little blame on the slight buzz from the alcohol he had earlier too.

And it’s funny, how other people can sometimes pick up on when these strange moods are taken effect. The atmosphere between them shifts into something more nostalgic, and Jihoon watches as Mingyu’s smile turns into something more apologetic. 

“Jihoon..,” trailed off Mingyu, his voice heavy with the same emotions Jihoon was feeling.

Jihoon’s stomach twisted just a bit harder when he heard his name fall from Mingyu’s lips. He looked up into Mingyu’s eyes, and saw every past conversation they had on the subject being replayed. They _both_ knew there was nothing more to say. Nothing more to bring up, since all of it had been settled and left to rest in the past. But Mingyu knew that Jihoon would always feel the sting of rejection even later in life, especially since his relationship with Wonwoo could feel like it was being rubbed in his face. 

But like hell was Jihoon going to bring up that part of their past again when everything had already been dealt with. All words that had needed to be said have been said, and to bring it up again would be like beating a dead horse. Plus he had Seungcheol now.

But that thought didn’t help with his nerves, reminded that Seungcheol was apparently hiding something from him too. 

Jihoon walked forward with intention, brushing past Mingyu’s side, bumping his arm slightly. “Let’s just find Wonwoo and go home.”

Jihoon heard Mingyu hum in agreement.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

To say that Jihoon was stunned to see Wonwoo curled up with Junhui on the floor of some random room would have been an understatement.

Well, he wasn’t too surprised that Junhui had been there. He was mainly caught off guard that _Wonwoo_ had let this happen. 

But when Jihoon had pushed open his third door in the hallway to find one of his best friends cuddle close to his roommate, he was shocked into silence. He was about to demand what was going on, but quickly realized that wasn’t his place to do so.

A quick glance behind him to Mingyu, who betrayed no tell to what he was thinking, was all Jihoon needed to keep his mouth shut.

If Jihoon didn’t know any better, he would have said that it looked like Mingyu _knew_ what he was going to be walking in on.

But this was the least of Jihoon’s worries at this exact moment, as he quickly strode over to Junhui’s side.

Mingyu followed easily, taking up his usual spot next to Wonwoo, helping him up off the floor. Now that Jihoon was in close proximity, he could _smell_ the liquor on both the boys. 

Wonwoo stumbled slightly as he got up, but no one seemed to have realized just how drunk the boy probably was besides Jihoon. Mingyu had slipped his fingers in between Wonwoo’s own before leading his boyfriend out and away from the remaining two in the room.

When Jihoon could finally bring himself to look Junhui in the eyes, he was almost taken back at the glare that sat there. It made Jihoon all the more upset, mad that Junhui was acting like he had a right to be upset that he and Wonwoo had been walked in on.

But Jihoon was starting to really feel all the interactions of tonight taking a toll on him, and he wasn’t going to get anywhere if he tried to chew out a drunk Junhui.

“We’re going to talk about this later, when you aren’t drunk off your ass.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

Jihoon followed after the pair, the two whispering into each other's ears. Jihoon’s irritability was at an all time high, and watching the two of them ignore him only made his temper raise to a new peak.

Jihoon couldn’t help but be upset, suddenly feeling cornered into following them at some random ass person’s party since they were the only people here that Jihoon knew. If it had been any other night, Jihoon might have been grateful for the silence and the obvious intent to go home. But after the combination of all these feelings and instances, it left Jihoon feeling alone and slightly vulnerable. 

Watching them just reminded Jihoon to what had just felt not 15 minutes ago in the hallway, and he really didn’t need to be dealing with those resurfaced feelings on top everything else that happened tonight. It was moments like this when he really hated that he only had these two as his friends.

But like a wave, Jihoon could feel his irritation with having to stick with his two friends that obviously didn’t want anything to do with him wash away. 

Seungcheol was here too. Seungcheol was his boyfriend. Jihoon had someone _else_ he could go to now that wasn’t just Mingyu and Wonwoo. 

Jihoon couldn’t help but feel the small temptation to just walk away from his two friends, leaving them in the dark to his new plan. But Jihoon wasn’t so spiteful to leave his two best friends in the dark thinking that they lost him at a party, so instead he picked up his pace a bit so they would be able to hear him.

“I’m going to go find Seungcheol,” called out Jihoon, half expecting his words to be ignored. 

Mingyu stopped and turned though, causing Wonwoo to pause too. The latter had to lean his head heavily onto Mingyu’s shoulder, keeping his eyes closed as he found comfort in Mingyu’s proximity. 

“Are you sure?” came Mingyu’s concerned voice, “We plan on just leaving now.” 

“Yeah, I’ll just head home with Seungcheol,” replied Jihoon easily, finding slight irony in the fact that all he wanted to to do this whole party was go home, but now he was making the choice to stay longer since it was the less irritating option at present.

Jihoon watched as Mingyu pursed his lips. Jihoon had to give the boy props that it actually looked like it bothered Mingyu that he was going to have to leave Jihoon behind at a party. But when Wonwoo seemed to have let too much of his weight lean onto Mingyu, causing his head to slip off Mingyu’s shoulder and lose his balance for a second, all thoughts of keeping Wonwoo here any longer were dismissed.

Mingyu just nodded at Jihoon before turning his back to him, all thoughts other than his boyfriend's comfort gone.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

Surprisingly, finding Seungcheol had been much easier then it was to find Mingyu. But Jihoon had to chalk it up to the fact that he was in the exact spot he had left him, Seungcheol seemingly had grown attached to that spot on the wall.

But that didn’t mean the boy hadn’t left the spot since he had left him. When Jihoon had gotten closer, he was able to clearly see how trashed Seungcheol had become. 

Jihoon had no idea if this was something Seungcheol usually did at parties, all Jihoon knew what that he didn’t like it. The frown that was prominent on Seungcheol’s face pulled at Jihoon’s heart, and all feelings of irritation were quickly replaced with concern. 

“Ah shit, Seungcheol?” asked Jihoon carefully, as to not surprise Seungcheol with his sudden appearance at his side. Jihoon watched Seungcheol struggle to locate him before they finally made eye contact. 

All Jihoon found there was a dazed look, showing Jihoon just _how_ drunk Seungcheol had become in the time he had been away from his side. 

“Jihoonnie? Is that you? I think… I think I’ve made a mista- ake. Somewhere.” Jihoon watched Seungcheol proceed to look about himself. He had no idea what it was that he was looking for, but that really didn’t matter right now. 

The first thing on Jihoon’s mind was that he needed to get Seungcheol home. 

“Oh man… Okay. Who did you come here with?” asked Jihoon. He figured that it might have been Seokmin, since he had seen him earlier, but he wasn’t sure if he would be able to locate the boy again so easily. Jihoon scanned the room just in case, but as expected, came up empty. He figured that he could always get his phone number from Seungcheol’s phone.

Jihoon was distracted from that thought by Seungcheol’s hand swiping out, barely missing his face. 

He turned back to Seungcheol, but this time grabbed his shoulders, hoping the solidity of it would help Seungcheol realize that Jihoon really was looking for an answer.

“Please pay attention Seungcheol. Who drove you here? Did you drive?” asked Jihoon again. But instead of answering, Seungcheol reached up and rubbed his thumb pad over Jihoon’s brow in a surprisingly soothing manner for how drunk he was. 

“Shh, no. Why wouldn’t I pay attention to you? You. Are so pretty. And wonderful. And you _actually_ seem like you might. Wanna. Be here. My pretty in pink.”

Jihoon couldn’t help but creese his eyebrows again, not sure if he really should be trying to get him home instead of to the bathroom. It’s been a long time since Jihoon had to deal with someone _this_ drunk. All Seungcheol’s words were mumbled and hard to hear, let alone to understand. 

“Can we be boyfriends? I. Would like that a lot..,” whispered out Seungcheol. His face was suddenly forlorn, almost like he was already ready to face the sting of rejection. Jihoon couldn’t help but smile a little bit. 

From Jihoon’s experience with drunk people, he has learned two things. One being that almost everything said was ridiculously honest. And the second being that you needed to reassure them of almost everything they said, since with the honesty came vulnerability. 

“We already are you numbskull. How could you forget?” half joked Jihoon, able to find a small amount humor in Seungcheol’s drunken state.

“Woww.. Oh wow,” drawled out Seungcheol, in complete awe of Jihoon’s statement. Jihoon couldn’t help but sigh slightly at his reaction. At least if Jihoon was harboring any last lingering thoughts that Seungcheol actually _didn’t_ want to date him, they were now completely dispelled. 

“...I’m sorry,” came Seungcheol soft words again. Sometime when Jihoon wasn’t looking in those few seconds, Seungcheol seemed to have reseeded into himself, once again just as insecure as he was when he just asked to be Jihoon’s boyfriend again. 

Jihoon couldn’t help but send him a confused look before rubbing his shoulders reassuringly. Jihoon didn’t blame Seungcheol for how drunk he got. If anything he blamed himself for having left Seungcheol’s side when he was already pretty drunk.

“No, don’t be sorry, this is partially my fault for leaving you alone,” explained Jihoon, trying to get Seungcheol’s mood up.

With that, Jihoon realized that they had gone off topic and he still didn’t know who or how Seungcheol had gotten to this party. He figured that Seungcheol had been on the ground for far too long, so Jihoon started to work on getting the boy off the floor. 

Jihoon had ducked and grabbed onto Seungcheol’s arm before slinging it over his shoulder, allowing himself to heft some of Seungcheol’s weight and help him stand. The boy wasn’t light, but luckily Jihoon wasn’t exactly weak. 

When they were both standing straight, Jihoon realized that Seungcheol had his eyes squeezed tight, so he allowed him a few seconds to recollect himself before he tried to move him again.

“Did you drive?” tried Jihoon again, but this time in the most soothing voice he could muster. He was starting to feel bad for Seungcheol, who must not be feeling very good in this moment. 

“Noo… No. Soonyoung. He drove,” finally answered Seungcheol, who must have been shocked into realizing the severity of his situation now that he was moving around and realizing the alcohol was not agreeing with him.

Suddenly, Jihoon could feel Seungcheol trying to push away from him, but like hell was he going to let him. Jihoon could feel how much weight Seungcheol needed to lean on him just so he could stand. 

“Oh no you don’t. You can barely stand on your own,” reprimanded Jihoon lightly as he resituated Seungcheol’s arm over his shoulder, allowing him to carry more of Seungcheol’s weight. 

“But.. No. I don’t want to be a burden. I don’t want you to leave,” voiced Seungcheol, vulnerability having creeped its way back in. Which Jihoon couldn’t really blame Seungcheol for. He had been left behind at a party once in his freshman year. It took Jihoon a week of ignored phone calls and 2 ignored home visits before he finally forgive Mingyu and Wonwoo for doing that to him.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to leave you here. I’m taking you back to my place, yours is a little too far to walk to..,” reassured Jihoon as he took a few experimental steps forward with Seungcheol in tow, “But you’re going to have to help me a bit if we’re going to make it.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

Either by some freak series of events or the gods had finally allowed Jihoon some leniency with the night, he had managed to get Seungcheol all the way back to his dorm room without any great incident.

There was a good two times where Jihoon was sure he was going to have to clean up some vomit off his shoes, Seungcheol's face having turned pale from all the motion. But both times, Jihoon had allowed Seungcheol to rest in his steps and settle his stomach before they continued on their trek back.

Seungcheol seemed pretty out of it the whole walk back, which had Jihoon worried. He almost wanted to try and start a conversation, or maybe even force Seungcheol to throw up, just so he could get some of the alcohol out of his system the quick way. 

But every time he was about to do something, Seungcheol had given Jihoon a smile, somehow still able to send his gratitude to Jihoon in such a state. It reassured Jihoon that he must have been in there somewhere still, and Jihoon would much rather be back at his place as soon as possible rather than on the side of the street.

When they arrived back, Jihoon had just barely managed to wrestle his keys out of his pocket without dropping Seungcheol, who seemed to have been slumping farther and farther onto Jihoon the later in the night it got.

Jihoon took the last few steps to his bed carefully before trying to deposit Seungcheol onto it without just dropping him. But the second Seungcheol seemed to have realized that they were finally done walking, he became almost limp, causing Jihoon to loose his grip on him. Jihoon couldn’t help but huff a bit, watching as Seungcheol seemed to melt into his bed. 

Jihoon was just happy that all the heavy lifting for the night was over and down with. 

With surprisingly little difficulty, Jihoon was able to get Seungcheol’s shoes off, having been much easier then it was when he was trying to get them on when they left the party. 

Seungcheol seemed to have passed out the instant he touched the bed, which was fine by Jihoon. At least he knew that Seungcheol was safe. 

With that thought, Jihoon reached into his pocket and retrieved his phone. He sent a quick text to Soonyoung, who Seungcheol had said he had arrived with, just so the boy would be aware to what had happened to Seungcheol.

Jihoon was greeted to a text full of squiggles and winky faces, to which Jihoon couldn’t help but roll his eyes at. It was too late and Jihoon was too tired to deal with Soonyoung who was probably piss drunk, so he left the text unanswered and started to get ready for bed. 

Jihoon was just settling into Junhui’s bed when he was startled by Seungcheol’s voice filling the air of the silent dorm. 

“No.. Come here,” beckoned Seungcheol, his voice a deep monotone. Jihoon watched as Seungcheol spread his arms wide and waited. His eyes were still closed, but his arms stayed open even when Jihoon made no move to comply with Seungcheol’s request. 

“I’m just going to sleep in Junhui’s bed tonight,” replied Jihoon, not wanting to encroach on Seungcheol’s space. 

“But, we’re boyfriends,” came Seungcheol’s retort, like it held every reason as to why they should share a bed tonight.

But even though they were dating, they had never done anything that could have been labeled as ‘physically intimate’. Hell, he couldn’t even bring himself to hug Seungcheol just earlier that night. 

But now that the distraction that was getting Seungcheol home had passed, Jihoon could really feel the weight of everything that had happened tonight overcome him.

Even though Jihoon had witnessed a lot tonight, he felt weighed down by that exact fact. To everything that had happened, he had been just a spectator to, having not been in a place to act on anything he saw. 

It wasn’t his place to get upset at Mingyu for keep something regarding Wonwoo secret from him. It wasn’t his place to demand what had been going on between Wonwoo and Junhui in that room. It wasn’t his place to get involved in Mingyu’s and Wonwoo’s relationship together. 

Even though the three of them had been friends for _years_ now, Jihoon has always known that there was things to be shared between lovers and things to be shared between friends. Which meant that Jihoon had been unintentionally left behind by his only two friends in this world. 

But like he said, he had grown to accept that fact. 4 years worth of watching your only two friends make plans and share secrets between themselves will do that to you. 

And now, as Jihoon watched Seungcheol’s arm start to tremble slightly from the effort to keep it up in the air, he realized that he didn’t have to be left behind anymore. 

Seungcheol was in his life. And he wanted Jihoon to be in his. 

Jihoon hadn’t realized till just this second just _how much_ he really wanted to be someone’s... someone. The person that they would put first over everyone else.

Everything between them might still be new, but Jihoon could already feel himself falling in love with the idea of their relationship. 

And here was said person he was in a relationship with, his arms _literally_ open wide for him, waiting for him to come into them. Wanting to have specifically _Jihoon_ close. 

Jihoon felt something warm grow in his chest, which spurred him into crawling up and off of Junhui’s bed and into his own.

The second Seungcheol realized that Jihoon had joined him, his arms snapped tight around Jihoon’s body, crushing him to his broad chest. Jihoon had to wiggle a bit in Seungcheol’s relentless hold just so he could breath properly, but once he was settled, Jihoon felt himself practically melt into Seungcheol’s tight embrace. 

Jihoon always figured that he wouldn’t have been one for cuddling, but he guesses he just hadn’t found the right person to do so with.

As Seungcheol's heat radiated off him and into Jihoon’s own being, he could feel all his worries from earlier begin to melt away, like nothing could touch him when he had Seungcheol’s arms around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (And then Jihoon’s heart exploded into a mess of confetti) 
> 
> Just kidding, bUT IM IN LOVE WITH THE NEW MV LIKE WOW WHAT A GOOD TIME.
> 
> But yes. I’m SO SORRY. I have no excuse as to why this had taken so long to get out besides maybe the length? This is my longest chapter EVER and I hope it made up for the fact that this took so long for me to release.
> 
> With that said, I think the chapters might be going back to the length they had been near the beginning of this story...
> 
> But don’t fret! With the shorter length will come faster updates! (Hopefully)
> 
> Also, to continue with the theme I've built for this story, I would like to say that I have written some thoughts or actions that I don’t exactly deem “right” or “healthy”. But (At least in my mind) I find those thoughts to be more realistic. So hopefully you can understand where I’m going with this without too much worry! 
> 
> As always, come talk to me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/NeonNitrogen)! <3


	23. Bad News :(

Let me start this off with an apology…. I’m sorry if any of you were excited to see that there was (finally) an update for this story. But sadly, I’m just here to announce that I am officially discontinuing At A Glance.

 

I am sad to do this, since this was and still is my longest fanfiction that I have ever written. This story holds a place dear in my heart, and contains many scenes and plot points that I’m very proud of.

 

I posted this fic over a year ago, (October 9th, 2015 to be exact), and haven’t found the will to continue and update since July.

 

There are a few reasons why I have ultimately chosen to officially discontinue At A Glance. One of them being that I believe that I have grown as a fanfic author and cringe a bit at some things I see when I go back and remind myself of this fic. I would like to think my writing has improved over the year since I posted the first chapter, and I know that I now could do much better then what I have given in this fic.

 

Another big reason is that the plot as a whole has gotten away from me. At the VERY beginning, I planned on this fic to just contain small snippets of scenes in the day to day life that was going to be JiCheol’s relationship together. It was going to be a mainly fluff story that really didn't have a cohesive and liner timeline to it.

 

But sadly, I had never taken on such a story before and without me realizing, it had turned into a regular fic that had dates for the chapter names.

 

And I believe that is the reason why I had JiCheol get together so quickly in the story, since it wasn’t a major plot point in the story I was originally going for.

 

A few chapters in, I realized that I did want to have something like a conflict in the story, and tried to shoehorn it into the relationship that I had already created for JiCheol. And from there the ideas flowed to the point that it was heading into a much angstier fic ( I never planned on Jeonghan making a reappearance or for the added Meanie/WonHui dynamic.) There was even a point in time where I rewrote the summary for the fic since it had completely changed directions.

 

And after adding all this stuff, and focusing on the other characters interactions and roles, I came to realize that the JiCheol in this fic was much less interesting to me then the Meanie/Wonhui, and even the SoonHao dynamics that I had added.

 

And now, in conclusion, all this led me to finally decide that I’m going to put this fic to rest. By doing so, I believe this will allow me to focus more on my other fics that I have ongoing since I won’t have the added guilt of needing to update this story but somehow never finding it in myself to do so.

 

If any of you do read any of my other ongoing fics, please note that I fully intend to finish them in due time. I believe that I had just bit off much more than I can chew with At A Glance, and no matter what direction I ended up going with JiCheol, I would have been ultimately unsatisfied with the end product since I am unsatisfied with the beginning product.

 

With all that being said, I will post One Final Chapter that will contain the small bit that I have written for the next chapter plus all my chapter planning that I had for this fic, just so that you guys aren’t completely left in the dark as to what I had going in my mind for what this fic could have been if I finished.

  
  
  
Huge Thank you to everyone who had left kudos, commented, and maybe even subscribed to this fic. I will try to product better fics in the future, and will work hard on the other ones that I already have in the works.


	24. Unfinished Chapter Plus Chapter Planning

(PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS UNEDITED AND IM TOO LAZY TO DO SO)

 

**Unfinished Chapter**

 

The first thing Seungcheol processed when he woke up was his severe case of cotton mouth. Next came the raging headache that rolled like storm clouds in his head when he tried to lift his head off the pillow. 

Gently, as to not disrupt his head anymore then he already had, Seungcheol placed his head back onto the strangely blue pillow. Seungcheol distinctly remembers deciding against the blue sheets and picking the beige ones instead back when he was making home decor choices, but that was the least of his worries at the moment. 

The next thing he could register with his foggy brain was that his left arm was tingling, fully asleep and basically unresponsive when he tried to lift it up. Confused, he glanced to his side, only to be caught off guard by a shock of pink hair directly in his line of sight. 

The shock of the sight had Seungcheol’s heart hammering against his chest. 

_ God, what the hell happened last night? _

Carefully, as to not disturb his bed mate too much, he slid his arm out from under Jihoon’s head. Once his arm was free to regain new blood flow, all Seungcheol could bring himself to do was stare up at the unfamiliar ceiling, trying to recall all that happened the night before. 

Through the fog, Seungcheol could distinctly remember showing up to the nice surprise of seeing that Jihoon was also attending the party. From then, he could remember drinking steadily, up until Jihoon had cut him off. 

Seungcheol’s lips twisted together as he tried to remember as to just why he had gone against Jihoon’s wishes and continued on to get hammered to the point of memory loss. 

And then it came back to him. Jeonghan had been at the party. Jeonghan had been at the party _with company._

__

No fucking wonder he got wasted off his ass. 

Seungcheol continued to stare up at the ceiling, content on letting himself waste away in this bed forever, with his new boyfriend peacefully asleep next to him. It wasn’t until a pressure on his bladder finally forced his hand at trying to get off the bed in some way.

 

**\---**

 

 

“I just want to say that I’m sorry,” started Seungcheol, eager to apologize. 

Instead of an acceptance or even a more justified questioning, Jihoon just waved his hand around, dismissing Seungcheol’s apology easily. 

Seungcheol watched as Jihoon easily rolled off the bed in a maneuver that showed Seungcheol that Jihoon had definitely made it out of the party without a raging hangover unlike himself. 

“Water?” asked Jihoon as he made his way over to a small mini fridge.

“God, yes please,” almost begged Seungcheol. His cotton mouth was only getting worse the more he spoke.

Jihoon was quick to reach in a produce a water bottle before tossing it in Seungcheol’s direction. Had he not been in the middle of one of his worst hangover headaches, he would have liked to think he would have been about to catch it. But instead, it ended up hitting him square in the chest before plopping onto the bed .

“I never realized that you were sadistic,” commented Seungcheol bluntly as he rubbed at his chest. 

Jihoon rolled his eyes at Seungcheol’s antics. It was only a few second in of Seungcheol acting like he was actually hurt before he gave up the act to instead reach down and retrieve the water. He was much too thirsty to pout to his greatest potential.

“I’m sure you’ll learn a lot more about me too as time goes on.” musses Jihoon almost sagely as he makes his way back to the bed. 

As Seungcheol takes long gulps of the water, he could feel his hair getting smoothed down in a surprisingly soothing matter. 

Seungcheol rose a questioning eyebrow at Jihoon, his mouth too busy to ask the question verbally. Instead of an answer, Jihoon just lets his hand fall away from what Seungcheol is sure to be a severe case of bedhead. 

Jihoon had let Seungcheol finish downing as much water as he wanted, watched him wipe away a stray water trail off his chin before asking his question.

“Mind telling me what last night was about?” asks Jihoon lazily, almost like he was trying to downplay how serious of a question that actually was. 

Seungcheol couldn’t help but purse his lips. He already knew that Jihoon wasn’t the kind of guy to beat around the bush, but this was the first time he’s been on the receiving end of one of Jihoon’s blunt questions. 

Seungcheol wasn’t an idiot, and could tell that Jihoon had probably been on his best behavior around Seungcheol. There was probably a million and one reasons as to why that was. 

So begrudgingly, Seungcheol was almost happy to realize that Jihoon’s relaxed personality traits were starting to emerge towards him, no matter how much he really didn’t want to explain the monstrosity that Jeonghan was to Seungcheol. 

Seungcheol screwed the cap back onto the bottle before letting out a deep sigh, trying to get his thoughts in order before he delved into the pit that was explaining to his new boyfriend the problems he had was his old boyfriend. 

**\---**

 

 

“Should it concern me that you still get so affected by the guy?”

Seungcheol turned his gaze sharply to Jihoon, taking in Jihoon’s expression. It was honestly hard to read, but he could see it. Behind the casual indifference, he could see the insecurity. 

“Oh babe, _no_ ,” reassured Seungcheol as he brought his hands up to hold Jihoon’s face. Seungcheol caught Jihoon’s eyes, his own piercing as he tried to convey the sincerity behind his words. 

“Babe?” asked Jihoon almost mockingly, no doubtingly trying to dispel the heavy tension that had feel over them during Seungcheol’s explanation. 

“Yes, _babe_ ,” stressed Seungcheol as he rubbed his thumb against Jihoon’s cheek, hopefully in a soothing manner, “But no, you shouldn't. I’m sorry that I let that happen. I was already drunk and I can be stupid, but that had been the first time seeing him again after everything so it kinda just hit me hard, yeah know?”  

Jihoon smiled softly at Seungcheol’s reassuring words before letting out a playful scoff. “No, I actually don’t know. But I hope to keep it that way.”

Seungcheol couldn’t help but return the smile. Even though he had fucked up so badly this early on in the relationship, Jihoon was so willing to understand where he was coming from. 

What did he do to deserve such a wonderful boyfriend?

So Seungcheol slid his hands from Jihoon’s face downward, allowing his hands to trail over his neck, shoulders, all the way down his arms before reaching back up to grab a hold of Jihoon’s waist. Jihoon’s face had been an equivalent to a question mark during this whole time.

So Seungcheol was happy to see the sudden surprise on his face when he grabbed hard and pulled Jihoon back completely onto the bed, encasing him in a smothering hug.

Jihoon sputtered as he tried to fight off Seungcheol’s arms, but it was too late. He had already had his arms wrapped hard around Jihoon’s tinier frame, and he wasn’t planning on letting go. When Jihoon had finally relaxed into his tight hold, just like he had last night, he could feel his heart swell with emotions. 

And when Jihoon had tucked his head closer to Seungcheol, letting out a content sigh after he settled, he figured that the sudden flare of pain to his head from all the sudden movement was worth it.

 

 

\----------

 

**Chapter Planning and Notes**

 

(Disclaimer: This are a mess. I'm sorry if it's hard to understand, or if there are small references and things you might not understand. There were many times that I had something planned out to do but literally just never added it, so I guess you can also see small ideas I wanted to add that didn't make it.)

**Small Key:** ( _things written like this are small notes from present me adding commentary)_

 

**Seungcheol’s Problem** : Insecure that Jihoon will leave if not entertaining, 

**Seungcheol's Habits** : Precise Counting for numbers and time

 

**Jihoon’s Problem:** Thinks he’s being used to get back at Jeonghan, NEW: IS MAD THAT WONWOO SEEMS TO BE THROWING AWAY HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH MINGYU SINCE HE HAD WANTED MINGYU BUT COULDN’T HAVE HIM. 

Had wanted to Date Mingyu in the past but was rejected. 

**Jihoon's Habits:** Fingers twitch when out of his comfort zone

 

**Chapter Outlines:**

 

SEUNGCHEOL POV Officially asked to be boyfriends, first kiss 

 

SOONYOUNG POV Group friend meet up, Notices the change in Seungcheol 

 

JIHOON POV The8 invites Jihoon and Meanie to party, The8s ulterior motive, convince Jun that he should try and break Meanie up with alcohol

 

PARTY: Thing that need to be addressed, Jun going ahead with the home wrecker idea; Jihoon and Soonyoung Drink Off. Jun tells that Jihoon is a light weight, “He looks like a model and i’d trust anyone that good looking, that’s why everyone likes Mingyu” ; Jeonghan and Joshua make an appearance; The8 flirts with Both Mingyu and Jihoon, Mingyu to get the plan started, Jihoon to see what he will do even when in a fresh relationship will do. We will need a Jun POV; Seungcheol POV; Jihoon POV; and Wonwoo POV Jackson: “Don't let him trick you into playing strip poker. He’s one conniving motherfucker.” talking about The8; Yugyeom invites Soonyoung, who invited the S3. Dino makes his appearance, brought by Vernon. Vernon invited by Bam Bam. _(Basically none of this happened)_

 

Seungcheols: 

MAIN POINT: Sees Jeonghan with Joshua, Gets too drunk because of it

-Vaguely remembers getting taken home with Jihoon later on

 

Junhui:

MAIN POINT: Flirts with Wonwoo, thinks he’s getting somewhere when he starts flirting back

-See’s Meanie leave together.

-talks to The8 about how he’s not completely sure about the plan, even though he was getting a good response from Wonwoo when texting

 

Wonwoo:

MAIN POINT: Show that it’s all just a thing for Mingyu,, leaves with Mingyu

\- “Ill come find you in an hour.” 

 

Jihoon:

MAIN POINT: Sees Wonwoo and Junhui disappear together starts to worry because doesn't see Mingyu anywhere. (HAHA NONE OF THAT HAPPENED)

-Asks Seokmin how Seungcheol got there, is told by Soonyoung but can't find him (Is gone with The8)

 

NEW: First scene, At the party, explain why he’s not in the mood to drink (See’s that Junhui had been texting Wonwoo)

2nd: Drinking scene with Seungcheol, why he wanted to go off to find Meanie; see’s WonHui together, have him starting to doubt the sincerity of Meanie relationship

3rd: Run into Seokmin, who is looking for S.coups because he saw Jeonghan, he is drunk so doesn’t realize that Jihoon might not know who Jeonghan is yet

4th: Find’s Seungcheol drunk, hears Seungcheol babbling about Jeonghan

5th: Nice heartfelt scene where Jihoon thinks that Seungcheol is his present so he should enjoy it while it lasts.

 

SEUNGCHEOL POV Morning after, feels like shit, talks with Jihoon a little bit about who Jeonghan is. And explains that he usually isn’t that bad of a drunk.

 

JIHOON POV Talks with Soonyoung during dance club, Soonyoung tells Jihoon about how heartbroken Seungcheol was after the break up and accidentally lets it slip that the date was set up just to get Seungcheol’s mind off of Jeonghan. “Wow, you've been so good for him, what a change.” RED FLAGS FOR JIHOON THO; Realizes how much Jeonghan affected Seungcheol

 

JIHOON POV Talk about how Jihoon use to have a thing for Mingyu, but had gotten over it, how he found out that he was gay. Maybe do the finger messing thing.

 

JIHOON POV Jeonghan runs into JiCheol, talks about how him and Joshua are doing well. Seungcheol hardcore talks Jihoon up, but Jihoon ends up thinking he’s only there to make Jeonghan jealous.

 

MINGYU POV Meanie are over at Jihoons, Junhui is his normal self while Wonwoo lets him, Mingyu tries to bring Wonwoo back to him without being obvious. Wonwoo brushes it off.

 

SEUNGCHEOL POV Spring break, Shirtless scene with all the friends (MAYBE NoT TOO MANY CHAPTERS ALREADY)

 

JIHOON POV JiCheol out and about on campus, Seungcheol runs into and chats up many people. Shows in a way to Jihoon that Seungcheol is popular

 

JIHOON POV Talk to Junhui about what is happening between him and Wonwoo, Junhui is aversive, but Jihoon is mad that Wonwoo seems to be going for Junhui now and is leaving Mingyu behind when he would have treated Mingyu much better then that.

 

JIHOON POV Fluff Chapter, They are on the couch and Seungcheol plays with Jihoon’s hands. Maybe talk about the Rap thing again and how Jihoon would be willing to share some of his music for Seungcheol to use.

 

JIHOON POV Have Jihoon witness a fight between Mingyu and Wonwoo over how Junhui is, Jihoon begins to worry that he's replaceable because Seungcheol is friendly with everyone

 

SEUNGCHEOL POV Jeonghan texts Seungcheol, wanting to get back together since Joshua moved back to the states. Seungcheol Can’t be mean, (and is comfortable with his relationship) so he says that he would be down to hang out again. Seungcheol keeps it a secret from Jihoon that Jeonghan contacted him

 

JIHOON POV Jihoon finds text on Seungcheol’s phone, realizes that Seungcheol might be interested in Jeonghan again since things never last if Meanie are anything to go by

 

JIHOON POV Jihoon reseeds into self, starts to find excuses not to hang out with Seungcheol.

 

SEUNGCHEOL POV Seungcheol wonders why Jihoon would pull away so suddenly when he thought they were doing so well. Begins to question how good of a boyfriend he actually is and how everyone leaves him.

 

WONWOO POV Wonwoo contacts Seungcheol about how miserable Jihoon has been, convinces Seungcheol that there must be another reason why Jihoon pulled away.

 

SCHEDULES:

 

JUNIORS IN COLLEGE:

SEUNGKWAN VERNON SOPHOMORES

DINO FRESHMAN

 

Jihoon: 

Monday: Morning class

 

Wednesdays: Dance club

Thursdays: Creative writing Class early: Junhui has early one class then goes home afterwards since Minghao has more classes

Fridays: No class

 

Seungcheol:

Monday: No Class

Wednesdays: Afternoon class and Seokmin visit afterwards

Thursday: Class ends at 4pm meet up with SoonSeok afterwards at apartment

Fridays: Morning (Math?) class

 

MEANIE COUPLE NOTES: 

 

STARTED DATING JULY 28TH 2011

 

2011-2012 Juniors

2012-2013 Seniors

2013-2014 Freshman

2014-2015 Sophomore

2015-2016 Juniors


End file.
